Top prosecutors join probe into flooded mine
Source: Agencies/Shanghai Daily |
March 31, 2010, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
STATE-LEVEL prosecutors have joined investigations into the flooded mine in north China's Shanxi Province where more than 1,000 rescuers continue frantic efforts to save 153 trapped workers.
Some surviving miners said signs of the flooding were clear three hours ahead of the accident on Sunday but were ignored by their bosses, China News Service reported yesterday.
Liu Yinhui, a worker at the mine, said he was sent underground without any training or experience in a coal mine.
He said many workers were "rookies" like him but even they felt safety measures were slack in the stricken Wangjialing mine.
An official said there were too many alerts of flooding every day and the Sunday alarm was ignored.
An insider with the rescue team said workers called with a flood warning but the dispatcher hung up on them.
Anxious families at the Wangjialing mine struggled to keep up hopes as high water levels stymied pumping efforts.
Schedule pushed
"I've been here for two or three days and I haven't seen them taking any action ... only a little water was pumped out today," Xiao Shihong, a mother of four whose husband and two brothers-in-law are all trapped in the mine, said yesterday.
A total of 108 men were lifted to safety on Sunday when water surged into the pit that was under construction.
It is likely workers inadvertently broke through into a pit that was full of acidic water.
Reckless pursuit of finishing the mine ahead of schedule contributed to the tragedy, said Chen Chuanping, deputy governor of Shanxi.
Construction of the mine was already five months ahead of schedule and every worker was "still required to speed up their efforts," Chen said.
Progress was required to reach 2 meters every day or workers were penalized, Xinmin Evening News reported yesterday.
The Wangjialing mine is a major government-approved project and is expected to produce about 6 million tons of coal a year when it comes on line.
Holes drilled
Though rescue teams started to pump out water on Monday, Sun Shouren, an official with the emergency crew, said the level had not dropped to where rescuers could contact trapped workers.
They also started to drill other holes, hoping to put more drainage pipes in, Sun said, but this was slow work.
The water level has reached 579 meters in the mine well and rescuers estimate about 140,000 metric meters of water flooded into the shaft.
It could take three days to pump out all the water even at the ideal speed of 2,000 cubic meters per hour.
Meanwhile, rescuers yesterday pulled two men from a flooded iron ore mine in central China's Henan Province, where they had been trapped for eight days.
Three people died in that accident and six others are still missing underground.
Some surviving miners said signs of the flooding were clear three hours ahead of the accident on Sunday but were ignored by their bosses, China News Service reported yesterday.
Liu Yinhui, a worker at the mine, said he was sent underground without any training or experience in a coal mine.
He said many workers were "rookies" like him but even they felt safety measures were slack in the stricken Wangjialing mine.
An official said there were too many alerts of flooding every day and the Sunday alarm was ignored.
An insider with the rescue team said workers called with a flood warning but the dispatcher hung up on them.
Anxious families at the Wangjialing mine struggled to keep up hopes as high water levels stymied pumping efforts.
Schedule pushed
"I've been here for two or three days and I haven't seen them taking any action ... only a little water was pumped out today," Xiao Shihong, a mother of four whose husband and two brothers-in-law are all trapped in the mine, said yesterday.
A total of 108 men were lifted to safety on Sunday when water surged into the pit that was under construction.
It is likely workers inadvertently broke through into a pit that was full of acidic water.
Reckless pursuit of finishing the mine ahead of schedule contributed to the tragedy, said Chen Chuanping, deputy governor of Shanxi.
Construction of the mine was already five months ahead of schedule and every worker was "still required to speed up their efforts," Chen said.
Progress was required to reach 2 meters every day or workers were penalized, Xinmin Evening News reported yesterday.
The Wangjialing mine is a major government-approved project and is expected to produce about 6 million tons of coal a year when it comes on line.
Holes drilled
Though rescue teams started to pump out water on Monday, Sun Shouren, an official with the emergency crew, said the level had not dropped to where rescuers could contact trapped workers.
They also started to drill other holes, hoping to put more drainage pipes in, Sun said, but this was slow work.
The water level has reached 579 meters in the mine well and rescuers estimate about 140,000 metric meters of water flooded into the shaft.
It could take three days to pump out all the water even at the ideal speed of 2,000 cubic meters per hour.
Meanwhile, rescuers yesterday pulled two men from a flooded iron ore mine in central China's Henan Province, where they had been trapped for eight days.
Three people died in that accident and six others are still missing underground.
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