QUJING, April 12 -- Half the water from a flooded coal mine in southwest China's YunnanProvince has been pumped out, but no substantial progress made in the search for the 22miners trapped since Monday.
The workers are believed to be stranded at an depth of 1,876 meters -- 10 meters belowthe level of the flood water that inundated a pit of Xiahaizi colliery in Qujing city at 4:50a.m. Monday.
As of 8 a.m. Saturday, rescuers had drained a over 22,000 cubic meters of water from thepit, reducing the water level to about 4.5 meters from the previous 10, a city governmentpress release revealed.
"One more pump was installed on Saturday and a total of 12 are now at work, draining 830cubic meters of water per hour," said Luo Shixiong, secretary-general of Qujing's citygovernment and spokesman with the emergency rescue headquarters. ' Xiahaizi collieryreports an annual output of 60,000 tonnes.
