BEIJING: Eighteen miners were trapped in a flooded coal mine today in central China's Henan province, in a third mining accident this week.

Sixty-two miners were involved in maintenance work at the mine when the accident occurred early this morning, official news agency Xinhua said. While 38 managed to escape the flooded area, six have been rescued, it said. Eighteen workers, however, remained trapped inside the mine.

"The six who were rescued were not seriously injured. They were sent to a local hospital for observation," a spokesman with the rescue headquarters was quoted as saying by Xinhua.

Efforts are on to save the trapped miners, with over 40 rescuers equipped with six pumps dispatched to pump out water from the pit inundated by about 300 cubic meters of water, the spokesman said.

At least ten miners were killed after a coal mine gas blast in south-west China's Sichuan Province on Friday.

Twenty-seven people were killed and six were injured on Thursday after a mine gas explosion in north-eastern Liaoning Province.
Source : PTI