Rescuers equip a large diameter water pipe at the Xinjing Coal Mine in Zuoyun County, north China's Shanxi Province, May 23, 2006. By 6 p.m. Tuesday, about 4,600 cubic meters has been pumped out of the mine, and water level in it began to fall. More pumps are to be used to speed up the pumping as 57 coal miners were still trapped by an underground flood since May 18, 2006. (Xinhua Photo)

    ZUOYUN, Shanxi, May 23 (Xinhua) -- Water level began to fall after days of pumping in north China's flooded coal mine where 57 miners are believed to be still trapped underground, rescuers said Tuesday.

    By 6 p.m. Tuesday, about 4,600 cubic meters has been pumped out of the mine, and water level in it began to fall, said Wang Zhonghu, a rescuer in charge of installing pumps at the site.

    More pumps are to be used to speed up pumping water through three pumping places of the mine, and the pumping capacity will reach 920 cubic meters per hour early Wednesday morning, said the headquarters handling the accident.

    The flooding accident occurred at 8:30 p.m. last Thursday at Xinjing Coal Mine in Zuoyun County, northern Shanxi. Latest check results show that probably 57 miners are still trapped underground while another 101 managed to escape.

    So far, eight people of the mine who are suspected to be responsible for the flooding have been detained, said the headquarters. Police are still searching for those runaway personnel of the mine.

    Li Yizhong, director of the State Administration of Work Safety, blamed excessive production and poor management of the mine for the flooding.

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    Initial investigation shows that the mine owner did not report the accident immediately to local safety officials, only saying five miners were trapped when local pubic security officials came to investigate the accident after they got information from local residents.

    The number of the trapped miners are now believed to be 57, but safety officials and police are still checking to get an exact number of the trapped. Enditem

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