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Rescuers search for 42 miners at flooded mine
(AP)
Updated: 2005-12-04 12:29
Rescuers were pumping water out of a flooded coal mine in central China as
they searched for 42 workers missing following the nation's latest mining
disaster, state media said Sunday.
The mine's owner allegedly went into hiding after Friday's flood at the Sigou
Coal Mine in Henan province, the official Xinhua News Agency said. The owner did
not have a safety license for the mine, Xinhua said.
There was no indication whether
the 42 missing miners were alive or not.
The same day, 16 people died in an explosion at another coal mine, in the
southern province of Guizhou, the agency said.
The twin tragedies came as authorities were still shifting through the debris
of a November 27 blast in China's frigid northeast that killed at least 169
workers.
More than 6,000 Chinese miners killed each year in fires, floods,
explosions, cave-ins and other accidents. The government has vowed to do more
to improve mine safety.
The death toll from the November 27 explosion rose to 169 on Saturday after
emergency workers found three more bodies in the debris, Xinhua said. Two miners
are still missing from that blast, at the Dongfeng Coal Mine in the northeastern
province of Heilongjiang.
Many of China's mine disasters are blamed on managers
who ignore safety rules or fail to install required ventilation or fire control
equipment, often in collusion with local officials. The issue is further
complicated by the country's soaring demand for power to drive its booming
economy.
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