China mine flooding traps 44 miners
Forty-four coal miners were trapped in a flooded pit in north China and several managerial staff had been arrested for trying to cover up the disaster, state media said yesterday.
The flooding at the Xinjing Coal Mine, in Shanxi province's Zuoyun county, happened Thursday night while 145 miners were at work, Xinhua news agency said, quoting rescuers.
A total of 101 miners escaped, leaving the other 44 trapped, but management of the mine initially said only five were missing, Xinhua said.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. "In this sense, the actual situation of the accident was covered up," it quoted Gong Anku, head of the Shanxi Provincial Bureau of Work Safety, as saying.
Managerial staff tried to ship out relatives of the trapped miners in rented taxis, hoping to send them to the nearby region of Inner Mongolia to prevent them talking to media or rioting, it said.
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