Another Mining Disaster

XINTAI, China (Reuters) - More than 180 coal miners were trapped underground and feared dead in eastern China on Saturday after a rain-swollen river burst a levee and flooded two separate shafts, the latest blow to the world's deadliest mining industry.

The trapped miners had only a "slim chance" of survival, Wang Ziqi, director of the Shandong coal mine safety administration, told Xinhua.
"Nobody came up today, so everyone is waiting," a Xintai resident told Reuters by telephone. "It doesn't look good."
President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao urged local officials to spare no effort to reach the trapped miners as soon as possible.
The scene of weary emergency workers and anxious relatives echoed a mine accident in the United States, which has a much cleaner safety record but where three people have died trying to save six miners trapped in a Utah coal mine.

Mining is risky worldwide, but China's coal industry is deadlier than any other country's, with about 2,163 coal miners killed in 1,320 accidents in the first seven months of the year.

It was not known at what level most of the miners were trapped, (Seems to be a reoccuring theme), but 14 were 30 metres (100 feet) underground, according to Xinhua.


China relies on coal for most of its energy needs.
Last year, 4,746 people were killed in thousands of blasts, floods and other mining accidents. While this year's record had been improving, the level is far worse than in other major coal-producing nations.
The U.S. Department of Labor, for instance, had recorded 14 coal mine deaths as of August 10 this year. Chinese officials estimate that China now suffers 1.485 mine deaths for every million tonnes of coal produced, compared with about 0.04 U.S. deaths for every million tonnes that country produced in 2005.