Beijing, July 15: China has launched a massive rescue effort to save 21 miners who are still trapped beneath a flooded coal mine shaft in Dengfeng City in central China's Henan province, an official report said today. Officials from the Henan provincial bureau for supervision of coal mine security said the flooding occurred at the Dongfeng coal mine in Baiping township, Dengfeng city, late last Sunday, and only a half of the 42 miners who were working underground managed to escape. Soon after the accident, officials from relevant provincial government departments rushed to the site to organise rescue operations, Xinhua News Agency reported.
Till now, the flooded water in the main corridor has been pumped out. Rescue workers have been busy reinforcing passages to safely rescue the trapped miners beneath the ground. Dongfeng coal mine is a township-run mine with a history of over 10 years. The mine's legal representative, the leader of the miners, and other administrative personnel fled the site, making it difficult for rescue workers to know the underground situation of the mine, the report said.
The cause of the accident is under investigation.

Thousands of miners die each year in China's coal mines, many in remote locations and operated by private owners with lax safety standards.
Bureau Report