It's been confirmed that thirty-five miners are trapped in a
flooded iron ore mine in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, according to
the local rescue headquarters.
The flood occurred shortly after zero hour on Wednesday morning
at Haolaigou Iron Ore Mine in Donghe District, near the city of
Baotou, when miners were changing shifts. Eleven miners escaped,
according to rescue headquarters.
Dong Hanzhong, chief of publicity with the Baotou City CPC
Committee, said water had flooded three of the mine's vertical
shafts and trapped the miners. None of them are from the local area
- 18 are from southwest China's Sichuan Province.
Rescuers were attempting to reach one of the flooded shafts
through a tunnel used to discharge ore residue, said Dong. "We
expect to connect with the flooded shaft by noon on Thursday,"
explained Dong. Four water pumps are in operation.
Rescue headquarters has sought extra equipment from coal and
electricity firm Shenhua Group Corp. Ltd. Four Shenhua slurry pumps
are being transported from Wuhai, a city west of Baotou, to the
site.
Yang Jing, chairman of the autonomous region, requested rescuers
to do everything possible to rescue the trapped miners.
But the rescuers face difficulties with the tunnel. It's only
2.3 meters wide, 2.5 meters high and a full two kilometers in
length. The estimated total volume of water is 12,000 cubic
meters.
Qu Laiyun, head of the rescue team and vice director of the coal
mine safety supervision bureau, suggested the water could have
originated from an underground river.
After the accident all mines in Baotou were ordered to suspend
operations until "they are proved legal and safe after a thorough
safety examination."
Police are keeping Cao Shihu, legal representative of Chaoyue
Mining Co. Ltd of Baotou City, which owns Haolaigou Iron Ore Mine,
under surveillance. They're attempting to contact relatives of the
trapped miners.
Chaoyue Mining is a private company set up in 2001. Its mines
have a production capacity of 100,000 tons of iron ore concentrate
a year.
(Xinhua News Agency January 18, 2007)