Rescuers find bodies of all trapped workers in Xinjiang's flooded mine

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, December 03, 2003

Rescuers find bodies of all trapped workers in Xinjiang's flooded mine

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Rescuers on Wednesday found the bodies of all seven trapped miners in a flooded coal mine in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, announced the regional safe production supervision bureau on coal mine safety.

The seven trapped victims, all rural laborers from southwest China's Sichuan province, had been trapped since the deluge occurred at 7:10 a.m. on Oct. 19 in the Xishan Colliery, Urumqi, when 14 people were working underground. Seven escaped.

The high concentration of gas in the mine and frequent occurrence of new floods have caused great problems for the rescueeffort, said Bian Deyun, an official with the regional supervisionbureau on coal mine safety.

The cause of the accident lies in possibly breaches in the upper and lower ledges, which caused water in the finished upper ledge to seep down, according to the rescue team.

The shaft where the accident took place was dug without the permission of the Ministry of Land and Resources, according to thebureau.

Meanwhile, the mine manager had the shaft closed to avoid a safety examination conducted by the local government just three days before the accident happened.

In addition, just one day before the tragedy took place, the safety supervisor of the mine reported to the manager that there was unusual flooding in the shaft, but the manager did not order to suspend production, said Bian.

Sludge still blocks the shaft and it is expected to be cleared in a few days.

Bian said local government has paid great attention to the accident and those who were held responsible for the tragedy wouldbe brought to justice.

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