BEIJING, Aug. 18 -- Chen Guo stood near the Daxing Coal Mine, anxiously waiting for information from the rescuers desperately trying to save his fellow workers trapped in the flooding shafts.

    "All I hope now is that the rescuers can recover their bodies," Chen said.

    A total of 123 miners were trapped in the Daxing mine in Xingning, Guangdong Province, on August 7 when the shafts were flooded.

    As just three bodies have been recovered so far, experts say the chances of finding any survivors are almost nonexistent after 10 days.

    Though heartbroken, 26-year-old Chen from Central China's Hunan Province feels lucky he did not meet with the same grim end as his mining friends.

    "This is the most terrible coal mine disaster that I have ever seen since I came here four years ago," he said.

    The Guangdong provincial government has ordered all coal mines to shut down for safety inspections.

    As a result, many miners have started returning to their hometowns. But a number of workers, like Chen, want to stay in Xingning for a little longer in the hope of finding a new job.

    "I hope the mines here will reopen some day. What else can I do if I go back home?" he said.

    Chen used to be a farmer in the poverty-stricken village of Xiangputian.

    "I came here mainly hoping to relieve my family's financial burden," he said.

    Chen was well aware the mine had been ordered to close as it had no production licence when he first arrived.

    "But I had no choice at that time but risk my life."

    Before he came to Xingning he earned just 1,000-2,000 yuan (US$123-246) a year as there was not enough land to farm as a result of excessive land requisition in his village. For the past four years he was making up to 3,000 yuan (US$369) a month down the mine.

    "The work here was very dangerous, very difficult, but I had to do it for the money," Chen said.

    Many migrant workers, like Chen, came from neighbouring provinces to Xingning, hoping to transform their financial plight.

    Sources at the Xingning government revealed that more than 80 miners trapped in the private Daxing mine are from neighbouring provinces including Hunan, Jiangxi and Guizhou.

    About 1,600 miners from these regions used to work in Xingning, one of the most important coal producing bases in Guangdong.

    Almost all of the migrant miners had not obtained professional training as they had little education and the mine owners could pay them less.

    The Daxing mine employed 400 miners. None had received mining production and safety training.

    "Financial profits drive the mine owner to neglect mining safety training, which partly contributed to the Daxing accident," Li Yingzhong, director of the National Bureau of Production Safety Supervision and Administration, told a press conference last week.

    In addition, the lax safety supervision by the local government contributed to the coal mine disaster, Li said.

    While the investigation into the cause of the Daxing accident is still under way, a special investigation team set up by the State Council has reportedly discovered some local government officials had established financial relationships with the mine.

    "It suggested a possibility of the local government's tolerance of over-production, mismanagement and lack of necessary licences for the mine," said Li, who is also one of the co-directors of the investigation team.

    Some local officials reportedly had stakes in the private mine. The local government has refused to comment on the reports.

    The mine was originally designed with an annual coal production capacity of 30,000 tons.

    However, it was producing 50,000-60,000 tons during the first half of this year, sources at the local government said. The mine had been operating for several years without the necessary production licences.

    Mining regulations stipulate a mine will not be allowed to begin operation until it has the necessary certificates, including the industrial and commercial operation certificate, mine operation licence, production licence and safety licence.

    The Daxing mine stayed open even after the Guangdong provincial government issued an order to suspend production at all local mines in the wake of another coal mine flooding on July 14 in Xingning that killed 16 miners.

    "The mine obtained a safety certificate early in June, but it was found not to meet the mine production safety standard. We should find out why the local government approved the certificate," Li said.

    The challenge of making the nation's mines safe is huge because of complicated geological conditions and high gas emissions that tend to result in frequent accidents.

    "However, we have come to realize lapses of safety training for miners and government supervision also contribute to the mine disasters," said Li.

    Sources at Li's bureau said a total of 46 serious coal mine accidents have occurred nationwide since July, of which 27 took place in mines that had been told to suspend operations for safety inspections.

    Li estimated there are currently about 7,000 small-and medium- sized mines in China that should be suspended for safety checks.

    (Source: China Daily)