By Xinhua
Xintai (China) : Hopes were fading Monday for the survival of 181 colliers trapped since Friday in two flooded mines in east China as rescuers kept on draining water.
The Huayuan mine was estimated to be filled with 12 million cubic metres of water and the Minggong mine, with some 145,000 cubic metres. The mines are located about 150 km south of Jinan, the provincial capital of Shandong.
Meanwhile, four drilling sets called in from the Shengli Oilfield in the east of the province were in place and one had started drilling.
The drilling of wells from the ground to the flooded shaft will help in speeding up the pumping process, flood prevention expert Bu Changsen, who had been supervising the pumping operation, said.
Torrential rain had swept Xintai Friday and early Saturday triggering a flash flood and a 50-metre breach in a levee on the Wen River.
Floodwater from the river poured through an obsolete shaft into Huayuan Mine at 2:30 p.m. Friday.
President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao late on Saturday asked rescuers to “promptly mobilise all equipment and personnel resources available and take all necessary measures to rescue the trapped miners”.