By Mahmut Atanur
BEIJING (AA) – Rescuers have pulled out two bodies from a coal mine in China’s eastern Sha’an Xi province days after it flooded.
State news agency Xinhua reported Thursday that nine people were still missing following Monday’s accident.
A rescue team retrieved the first body at 11.30 p.m. Wednesday (1530GMT), while the second was pulled out around 5 a.m. Thursday.
Around 21,000 cubic meters of water and sludge have also been pumped out of the mine.
In the wake of Monday’s accident, 56 workers managed to flee the floodwaters, but 11 others were trapped underground.
The cause of the flood still remains unknown.
Chinese mines are among some of the deadliest in the world due to lax regulations and poor operating procedures.
In recent years, the country has produced more than one-third of the world’s annual coal output, but accounted for more than two-thirds of global mining deaths annually, according to Mining Technology.
In January, 11 workers were killed after a coal mine collapsed in northwest Shan Xi province, while in February a gas leak at a coalmine in northeast Jilin Province left 12 miners dead.
Just last month, 19 people died after a coal mine collapsed in northern China while 129 workers were working underground.
