2007 Shandong coal mine flood

Infobox News event


caption=
date= start date|2007|08|28
time=1:50GMT
place=Xintai, Shandong, China
casualties1=172 ~ 181 deadEnglish Aljazeera. " [http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2007/08/2008525135547815568.html English Aljazeera] ." "Chinese miners trapped by floods." Retrieved on 2008-09-08.] LA times. " [http://articles.latimes.com/2007/aug/19/world/fg-chinamine19 LA times] ." "Hope dim for Chinese miners." Retrieved on 2008-09-15.]
casualties2=The 2007 Shandong coal mine flood was an incident that occurred on August 28, 2007 in Xintai Shandong, People's Republic of China, when heavy rain caused a river to burst a levee creating a flood into two mine shafts. By 8:50 am (1:50GMT), the mine was inundated underwater.

Damages and casualties

More than 200mm of rain had fallen in Xintai, causing a 50-metre breach of a levee of the Wen river. Water poured into the 860-metre deep pit at the Huayuan mine, quickly overwhelming the mine's pumps. The 172 miners were trapped in a 3,000-foot-deep mine shaft when a mine operated by the Huayuan Mining Co. Nine others were also missing, in a nearby mine run by a different company. None of the miners 181, living or dead, were recovered from the two mines after the accident. [Chinadaily.com.cn. " [http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2007-09/03/content_6077282.htm Chinadaily.com.cn] ." "Work safety situation still dime." Retrieved on 2008-09-15.]

The Huayuan mine was flooded with an estimated 12 million cubic metres of water. If all six available pumps were used around the clock they could pump out about 120,000 cubic metres of water a day. But only four were operational. Unofficially, experts say that it would take almost 100 days to drain the water inside the mine.Asianews.it. " [http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=10110&size=A Asianews.it] ." "Beijing admits Xintai mining accidents were completely avoidable." Retrieved on 2008-09-14.]

Aftermath

An official at China.com.cn discussed the fact that signs of flooding had appeared in advance prior to the incident, and that the "disaster was completely avoidable." On September 6, the Shangdong provincial government issued a statement citing scientists who said that none of the miners would be able to make it out alive after that amount of time underground. [Xinhuanet.com. " [http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-09/06/content_6676117.htm Xinhuanet.com] ." "Beijing admits Xintai mining accidents were completely avoidable." Retrieved on 2008-09-15.]

References