Jilin mine flood traps 16
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Sixteen miners were trapped in a flooded coal mine in Meihekou city of northeast China's Jilin Province, said the provincial government Saturday.
Initial reports said 17 miners were trapped, which was later confirmed as a miscalculation.
The flooding took place at about 1:55 p.m. Friday after a cave-in.
Rescuers failed to make contact with the trapped miners as of Saturday night as water, mud, sand and coal inside the mine plugged up the 200-meter-long shaft.
"The resuce is extremely difficult this time," said Jia Changjiang, a coal mine rescue expert at the scene.
"Water is everywhere under the well, which makes the situation worse and worse," he said.
Rescuers were using about 10 excavators Saturday afternoon to fill the cave-in nearly one kilometer away from the mine entrance, aiming to prevent more water coming out of drift sand.
The cave-in was 12 meters deep and 20 meters in diameter. Song Wei, who was in charge of the rescue operation, said 3,000 cubic meters of earth were needed to fill it.
Among the trapped, 15 were local residents of Meihekou City and one native of Dongfeng county of Jilin.
The coal mine was licensed and run by the Zhonghe township with an annual capacity of 60,000 tonnes.
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