Rescuers have been digging an extra 385-meter-deep hole with the hope of reaching a working platform where most of 172 miners from one of the two flooded mines were believed to have trapped in Xintai, Shandong Province, on east China's seaboard.

By 6 PM Monday, the rescuers had dug 360 meters beneath the ground with a drill specially taken from Shengli Oilfield and will have to break through another 25 meters of soil before they reach the working passage where most of Huayuan Coal Mine's 172 trapped miners were working, said sources from the rescue headquarters.

"More water pumping tools will be added from this hole," said an official in charge of the rescue operation.

Flood water swept through a 65-meter wide breach in the Wenhe River levee on Aug. 17, inundating the Huayuan and Minggong mines, leaving 181 people trapped underground, including 172 miners from Huayuan Coal Mine.

Twelve water pumps have been put into operation at the two flooded coal mines, which have pumped out a total of 1.29 million cubic meters of water.

By 6 PM Monday, the water level of Huyuan coal mine had fallen to 34.46 meters, 58.14 meters down from the highest level, but rescuers have to reduce the water level by 64.46 meters to reach the nearest location where some of the 172 miners might be trapped, said sources from rescue headquarters.

In the nearby Minggong mine, where nine miners have been trapped beneath the shaft, the water level had dropped to 38.15 meters.

(Xinhua News Agency September 4, 2007)