Danwei posts two links to stories about miners in danger. First, in Yunnan, nine miners were killed after explosives detonated inside, but it was later revealed that several of the miners had been shot before the explosion. From Xinhua:
A shed of Xiaosongdi Coal Mine exploded after explosives in it were detonated at 9 am last Thursday when Zheng Chunyun, boss of nearby Yuejing Coal Mine, arrived with more than 80 people armed with knives and steel bars.
Nine people were killed and 48 others injured in the incident, most of them were with Zheng.
“Autopsies show some of them were gunned down before the blast,” said Lu Qingwei, head of the public security of Luxi County, where the mine is located.
But Lu declined to give more details about the case. Investigations are underway and the results may be announced Tuesday, Lu said.
And in Sichuan, 29 miners were trapped in a flooded mine before being rescued. Also from Xinhua:
Water inundated the Batian Coal Mine in Weiyuan County at 11 a.m. Sunday when 35 miners were working underground. Thirteen of the miners managed to escape by themselves while 22 were trapped.
After the flooding, deputy mine manager Cheng Ronghui and the general foreman Zhang Hongliang led a team of seven into the mine in an attempt to rescue the remaining 22 miners. However, the rescue mission failed and they themselves became trapped.
Cheng said, “I had no time to get changed when I heard the mine flooded and seven of us rushed to the scene to rescue people.”
When Cheng led the group into the mine and despite the bottom of the mine being submerged, the trapped miners could still move on the air bridge inside the mine pit and the safety tunnel was in use.
