Hopes Dim for Chinese in Flooded Mine

Accident Involving 172 Workers Underscores Nation's Poor Safety Record

BEIJING, Aug. 20 -- Hopes dwindled fast Monday for the lives of 172 miners blocked deep underground three days ago by floodwaters that filled a coal shaft in eastern China.

Officials estimated that 12 million cubic meters of water flowed into the Zhangzhuang Mine, in Shandong province 300 miles southeast of Beijing, after hard rains caused the Chaiwen River to burst through an earthen levee Friday afternoon. Although they have repaired the levee and brought in eight pumps to suck out the mud and water, engineers said emptying the flooded shaft would take days.

The accident, the latest in a long series of disasters in Chinese mines, provides another dramatic example of China's poor record on worker safety, particularly in the booming coal industry. More than 2,800 miners were killed in underground explosions and floods last year, making China's mines the deadliest in the world. The highest known toll came from a gas explosion in a mine shaft in 2005 that killed 214 workers.

Underlining the dangerous conditions, officials said nine other men were trapped in a nearby coal mine that was also flooded when the Chaiwen River levee buckled, bringing the number of potential victims to 181. Both mines were in an area singled out by safety officials on Thursday -- the day before the flooding -- as a danger zone during the heavy rains.

Some rescue officials told reporters on the scene in the city of Xintai, in the center of the province, that hope remained that the miners had found safety on some high spot within the 2,800-foot-deep shaft. But they had no word of any communication, and other officials said chances were slim of finding anyone alive.

Government officials and executives of the Huayuan Co., which owns the mine, declined to provide a list of miners in the shaft at the time. A senior Shandong province official, Zhang Dekuan, said earlier that 756 miners were underground at work when the floodwaters rushed in; 584 made their way out almost immediately, he said, but the remaining 172 were trapped behind the floodwaters.

With the accumulation of such accidents, mining safety has become a political issue for the Communist Party as it prepares for a key party congress in the fall. This is particularly true because many of the deaths have occurred in small wildcat mines operating outside the law or after owners had bribed local officials to overlook safety violations. The relentless tempo of accidents has created an impression that the government is unable to get a grip on the problem.

Against that background, the Propaganda Department imposed tight censorship on news of the disaster. Government-controlled media were limited to sketchy reports emphasizing rescue efforts and describing the concern of President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao for the miners' fate.

The official party newspaper, People's Daily, ran a prominent front-page story Monday detailing the widely applauded rescue of 69 miners on Aug. 1 after a similar flooding accident in Henan province. "Miners' Lives Above All" was the headline. The paper's account of what was actually happening in Shandong was limited to five paragraphs on page three.