China: Rescue work terminated in a mine, no hope for survivors

Beijing: After two weeks of efforts, the Chinese authorities today terminated their operations to rescue 23 workers trapped in a flooded coal mine in Guizhou Province after concluding that they were unlikely to be alive.

"Rescue work in a flooded coal mine in Guizhou Province has been terminated, 14 days after a flood trapped 23 workers underground," Li Shangkuan, Chief of the rescue headquarters said.

The decision was based on the opinions of experts, rescuers and relatives of the trapped workers, Li said.

Only two bodies could be fished out during the rescue operations and the area where rest of the workers are supposedly trapped is believed to be completely submerged in water, leaving no hopes of any survivors.

Rescue operations became difficult as despite pumping out of 406,000-cubic metres of water from the mine, flood water continued to pour in, Li said, adding that the fear of caving-in of the mine also threatened further rescue operations.

Meanwhile, a drainage system breakdown has been blamed for the July 2 flooding accident, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Notably, China is home to some of the most dangerous mines in the world and every year, hundreds of people die because of mishaps in these mines.