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Chinese kin lash out as trapped miners' hopes dim
2007-08-20
Rescuers work outside a flooded coal mine in Xintai, in east China's Shandong province August 19, 2007. More than 180 Chinese miners trapped down a flooded shaft have slim hopes for survival, but officials said they would press on with frantic rescue efforts after one of the nation's worst mine disasters. |
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Anguished relatives of Chinese coal miners trapped in flooded shafts clashed with managers on Monday, desperate for information, but hopes for the 181 men faded after another day of efforts to pump the mines dry. The disaster in the eastern coastal province of Shandong is the latest to strike China's coal mines, which -- with over 2,000 people killed in the first seven months of this year along -- are the world's deadliest. The miners have been trapped since Friday when a burst river dyke sent water rushing into two shafts. Rescuers hold out little hope of survival for many, if not all, of the men who could not outpace the torrent -- 172 in a main shaft and 9 in one nearby. They pressed on with efforts to pump water out of the mines on Monday, however, while officials revealed that they had known about the threat of flooding in the area. Five or so men demanding word about trapped relatives stormed offices of the Huayuan Mining Co, which they said had not been telling families what was happening. "We can't wait anymore," they yelled before rushing into the offices, smashing windows in a confrontation with officials they said had promised, but not given, regular information. "Now I'm only getting information from the Internet and television. I want the company to brief us everyday at a set venue," said one of the protesting men, Zhang Chunling, who said his brother was still missing underground. Only a day before the disaster, province safety officials meeting in Xintai discussed the threat of floods in coal mines and singled out the area where Friday's disaster took place, showing that officials knew of seasonal risks from heavy rains. "Especially in areas along rivers and lakes and low-lying areas where water easily accumulates and leaks, we must set preventative measures," the report on the Web site of Shandong's coal mine safety bureau (www.sdcoal.gov.cn) cited deputy chief Zhang Xuechang as saying in Xintai. The water level had dropped several meters by late Sunday, state media reported, drilling equipment from a nearby oil field was being installed to help rescuers, and water pumps from neighboring provinces were sent to the site. But even once all the pumps were in operation they would be able to pump only 5,000 cubic meters of water per hour, Bu Changseng, a safety expert drafted in by the government, told reporters at the site of the main shaft. With 12 million cubic meters of water filling the massive mine, that could mean months before the shaft was cleared. One miner who escaped the shaft told reporters that the current was too strong for many. "We saw the water, it was pouring in from the ceiling and the current was very strong," said Wang Kuitao, whose brother was still trapped in the shaft. "If you couldn't grasp onto something you would definitely be washed away." Troops, armed police and miners have managed to block the levee breach on the Wenhe River, swollen from torrential rains. "IT'S TOTALLY MANMADE" China relies on coal to fuel its economic boom and with domestic coal prices at record levels, some operators boost production beyond safe limits despite government efforts to enforce safety standards. Because of their frequency, mine accidents in China do not attract the same media coverage as they do in the United States, where efforts to rescue six trapped miners in Utah have been front-page news for nearly two weeks. Officials at the disaster site have called it a "natural disaster." But relatives of miners have furiously disputed the description. The female relative of one missing miner shouted at the Huayuan offices gates, "Who said this is a natural disaster? That's crap. It's totally man-made." In the weeks before the mine floods, central and provincial safety authorities warned that mines and other employers were not paying enough attention to the threat from flood waters. The Shandong work safety bureau last month told mines threatened by flooding to stop work, according to a notice on a local coal safety Web site (www.luzhong.sdcoal.gov.cn). The national safety administration issued an urgent directive last month warning that employers were not taking the threat from flooding seriously enough, according to the same Web site. "There's not enough attention, prevention is lax, and some work units have arrangements and requirements but fail to act on them," the directive said. Early this month, 69 miners in central China emerged alive after flood waters trapped them down a shaft for 76 hours. In a separate accident in Shandong, 14 people were killed and 59 injured when molten aluminum burst from its container at a foundry on Sunday, Xinhua reported. (Additional reporting by Chris Buckley and Lindsay Beck)
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