Rescue workers wait to push an iron trolley loaded with pipes at the shift of the Wangjialing coal mine, Xiangning township, about 400 miles (650 kilometers) southwest of Beijing, Wednesday, March 31, 2010. Safety rules and danger warnings had been ignored in a rush to open a coal mine in northern China where flooding of the shafts has left 153 workers trapped for nearly three days, a government safety body said Wednesday. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)

The New York Times reports this morning that hope is fading for the 153 coal miners trapped by a flood in northern China:

As of Tuesday night, the work of five pumps had reduced the water level in the mine by only a few inches. A steady rain did not make the work any easier and sent more water soaking into the group. According to Xinhua, the official news agency, the men were said to be trapped in nine different tunnels. More than 100 others escaped as the shafts filled with water on Sunday.

If rescue efforts fail, the accident would be the deadliest since 2007, when 172 miners were killed in a mine flood in eastern Shandong Province.

Chinese coal mines have long been perilous places to work. Last year, more than 2,600 people died in accidents, many of them in Shanxi Province, the heart of China’s coal industry.

My buddy Rob McGee at the U.S. Mine Rescue Association has put together a chart with maps of a dozen serious mining accidents in China in March 2010 alone.

Rescue workers push a cart with an iron pipe as security guards stand guard at Wangjialing coal mine, Xiangning township, about 400 miles (650 kilometers) southwest of Beijing, Wednesday, March 31, 2010. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)

There’s more coverage from the Guardian, which picks up 0n reports that safety warnings were ignored at the mine prior to the inundation and from the BBC, which has a similar account.

China Daily has a story that indicates evacuation orders and rescue efforts didn’t move fast enough when the incident occurred, and also had this moving story:

At 1:40 pm on Sunday, Xiao Shihong’s world collapsed. That was the time her husband Wang Jiming and two brothers-in-law were killed in what could well be remembered as China’s deadliest mine accident in years.

Xiao, 38, was not even aware of the tragedy until Monday. Even as she rushed to the scene from Gujiao – the scene of a gas blast at a coal mine in Shanxi last year that killed 78 – she knew there was little hope.

“My husband is dead I don’t need them to tell me that,” she said

… County officials are yet to announce the death toll and are unlikely to do so for some time, at least until the relatives of the deceased have been “pacified”, physically, emotionally and financially.

This has become one of many routines in the aftermath of mine disasters in this trouble-plagued province, once China’s largest coal producer. Other familiar features include an armed police presence around the mine, which started on Tuesday, the heavy deployment of police officers, and close “supervision” of all relatives of the victims, who officials often pay to stay silent.

Deja vu? It’s just that time of the year again in Shanxi. Relentless efforts to streamline the deadly industry have seen the province slip to second behind Inner Mongolia in terms of coal production, but it takes no more than a blast or flood for the cycle to start all over.

Angry relatives of mine workers accuse officials of lack of speed in recovery work at Wangjialing coal mine in Xiangning township, about 400 miles (650 kilometers) southwest of Beijing. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 31, 2010 at 10:53 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.