All 20 trapped workers rescued from flooded coal mine in China

All the 20 mine workers who were trapped in a flooded coal mine for more than 30 hours in Chinas Shanxi Province were rescued safely on Friday and sent to hospitals for treatment, local officials said.The accident took place on Wednesday at the coal mine in Duxigou Village, Xiaoyi City.

All the 20 mine workers who were trapped in a flooded coal mine for more than 30 hours in China's Shanxi Province were rescued safely on Friday and sent to hospitals for treatment, local officials said.

The accident took place on Wednesday at the coal mine in Duxigou Village, Xiaoyi City. Illegal mining was blamed for the accident, according to a preliminary investigation, state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.

Confusion prevailed over the number of mineworkers trapped. Initial reports said 22 miners were trapped and later the figure was brought down to 21.

The final Xinhua report on Friday said all the 20 miners were rescued.

Rescuers on Friday morning established contact with the miners. The first trapped miner was lifted out of the shaft early Friday.

More than 400 rescuers had been racing against time to reach the trapped miners. Several pumps were installed and the water level in the pit dropped by 2.1 metres, rescuers said. Low temperatures and strong winds made search and rescue operations difficult.

The local public security department has detained seven suspects involved and is searching for others who have fled after the mine accident.

Following the accident, China launched a nationwide campaign to crackdown on illegal mining, Xinhua reported late on Thursday.

The high demand for coal has shored up prices, prompting the resurgence of illegal coal mining, according to the Office of the Work Safety Committee of the State Council and the Ministry of Emergency Management.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)