Relatives of mine worker weeps at the Wangjialing coal mine in Xiangning township, Shanxi province, about 650 kilometers (400 miles) southwest of Beijing, Tuesday, March 30, 2010. Workers reported underground water leaks days before a flood coursed through a coal mine in northern China, where 153 people remained trapped Tuesday in potentially one of the country’s worst mining disasters, a worker and state media said.

More than 150 coal miners remain trapped underground in China today, as anger and frustration is growing among their families — and reporters are surfacing that warning signs were ignored by mine management.

A Reuters report, via The Washington Post, says:

Over 1,000 rescuers fought against the clock at a Chinese coal mine where 153 workers were trapped by flooding in what could be one of the worst disasters to hit the deadly industry in recent years.

Anxious families at the Wangjialing mine in northern Shanxi province struggled to keep up hope as high water levels stymied pumping efforts.

“I have 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 on Tuesday.

“Now it is the third day, but we still don’t know anything.”

Rescue workers rest on the ground as relatives of trapped mine workers walk past them at Wangjialing coal mine, Xiangning township, Shanxi province, about 650 kilometers (400 miles) southwest of Beijing, Tuesday, March 30, 2010. Workers reported underground water leaks days before a flood coursed through a coal mine in northern China where 153 people remained trapped Tuesday in potentially one of the country’s worst mining disasters, a worker and state media said. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)

And there are reports from The Associated Press and from AFP that management ignored indications that the mine had water leakage problems:

Workers helping to build the vast Wangjialing mine in Shanxi province said water was noticed leaking into the pit as early as last Thursday – days before the latest disaster to strike China’s deadly mining industry.

‘Water was seeping in on the 25th. It was reported to the management,’ a worker who gave only his surname, Shi, told AFP.

‘Water continued to seep in in the days afterwards and we reported it, but there was no order to evacuate. Why didn’t they do something about that?,’ Mr Shi complained as fellow workers gathered around, murmuring in agreement.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 30, 2010 at 11:21 am and is filed under Mine Safety. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.