Society

Coal mine floods kill 21 in SW China's Guizhou

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-06-05 11:38

GUIYANG - Twenty one workers, who were trapped underground in two coal mine flooding accidents late last month in southwest China, have been confirmed dead as more bodies were found Sunday.

Rescuers found two bodies in a flooded coal mine of Guiyang city, capital of Southwest China's Guizhou province, Sunday morning, a spokesman with the rescue headquarters said.

Thirteen people were trapped when the flooding hit Fuhong Coal Mine on May 29. Rescuers had previously uncovered three bodies. The spokesman said experts had confirmed that the eight people, who remained buried, had no chance of survival.

Rescue work is continuing. And the cause of the accident is under investigation, the spokesman added.

In a separate case in Dushan county, which forms the border of Guizhou and Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, eight people, who were buried in a flooded illegal coal mine on May 31, were confirmed dead late Saturday when rescuers found two more bodies, a county spokesman said.

Six bodies had been previously retrieved.