This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It will not be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8591547.stm

The article has changed 6 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 4 Version 5
Flood traps Chinese coal miners Hundreds join China mine rescue
(about 16 hours later)
Rescuers are trying to reach more than 150 coal miners trapped after a pit flooded in China's northern Shanxi province, state media says. Nearly 1,000 rescuers are working around the clock to reach scores of coal miners trapped in a flooded pit in northern China, state media says.
Some 261 people were in the mine when water rushed in and 108 managed to escape, the Xinhua news agency reports. But it could take them days before they reach the 153 miners.
China's mines are the most deadly in the world - thousands of workers are killed in them every year. A total of 261 people were in the mine in northern Shanxi province when water rushed in. More than 100 managed to escape but the rest were trapped.
Most accidents are blamed on failures to follow safety rules, compromising ventilation or fire-control equipment. Safety standards have improved over recent years, but China's mines are still the most deadly in the world.
Initial reports from the Wangjialing mine said more than 150 people were trapped in the pit but officials later revised that number down, only to revise it back up to 153. The workers in this latest accident have been trapped since Sunday, but there are unconfirmed reports that water started to leak into Wangjialing mine a few days before.
President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao ordered local authorities to spare no effort to save the trapped, Xinhua said. Toxic gas
The mine covers 180 sq km (70 sq miles). Additional pumps have now been taken to the state-run colliery - which is still under construction - to get rid of the water.
Most of those trapped in the shaft are migrant workers from Shanxi, Hebei, Hunan and Guizhou provinces, a rescuer said, quoted by Xinhua. Rescuers have also started drilling a hole to open up a drainage channel to divert the flood water.
Luo Lin, director of the Safety Inspection Department, said the priority was to reach the trapped men. But water is not the only problem.
"At the same time we need to avoid causing follow-on disasters or environmental damage," he told reporters as he visited the scene on Monday. "The coal mine has a high concentration of gas. Rescuers have to face the danger of toxic gas, while fighting the water," Liu Dezheng, spokesman for the rescue effort, told the state-run Xinhua news agency.
Earlier this month, rescue efforts for 31 miners trapped when a coal mine flooded in the Inner Mongolia region of China were halted after two weeks when no sign of life was found. No one knows for sure if the miners, thought to be trapped in a number of underground locations, are dead or alive.
President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao ordered local authorities to spare no effort to save them, Xinhua said.
The mine covers 180 sq/km (70 sq miles).
Most of those trapped in the shafts are migrant workers from Shanxi, Hebei, Hunan and Guizhou provinces, a rescuer said, quoted by Xinhua.
As rescue efforts continued, Xinhua announced that two workers trapped in another flooded mine, in Henan province, were pulled out alive on Tuesday - eight days after their mine was inundated
But earlier this month rescue efforts for 31 miners trapped when a coal mine flooded in the Inner Mongolia region of China were halted after two weeks when no sign of life was found.
According to official figures, 2,631 coal miners died in 1,616 mine accidents in China in 2009, down 18% from the previous year.According to official figures, 2,631 coal miners died in 1,616 mine accidents in China in 2009, down 18% from the previous year.