JIAXIAN, Henan, Nov. 18 (Xinhua) -- Rescuers found the body of the last missing miner from a flooded coalmine accident in central China's Henan Province on Tuesday afternoon.

Rescue vehicle park at the site of the flooded coal mine in Jiaxian County, Pingdingshan City of central China's Henan Province, on Nov. 17, 2008.  (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    In all, two people died. Thirty-two others were rescued early this morning. They spent almost 23 hours underground in a flooded mineshaft. All are described as being in stable condition at a local hospital.

    Wang Dexue, deputy head of the State Administration of Work Safety, told Xinhua the Gaomendong Coal Mine in Jiaxian County was operating illegally, when the accident happened. The mine's owner, Lou Gaofeng, has been detained.

    "Although the mine's production license is valid until November 2009, the mine was undergoing a technical innovation for expansion, which has yet to be approved for resuming production," said Wang.

    The safety production agency also said the mine's owner, Lou, did not report the accident until two hours after it occurred.

    Miners found water seeping into the shaft before it flooded at about 7:20 a.m. Monday. There were 42 people working underground at the time. Eight managed to escape.

    Jiaxian, about 200 km southwest of the provincial capital Zhengzhou, is rich in mineral resources with an estimated coal reserve of about 2 billion tons, according to the county government website. (www.jiaxian.gov.cn)

Thirty-two of 34 people trapped in central China flooded coal mine rescued 

    JIAXIAN, Henan, Nov. 18 (Xinhua) -- Rescuers pulled 32 of the 34 trapped miners out of a flooded coal mine alive in central China's Henan Province early Tuesday morning, almost 23 hours after the accident occurred. One died and another was still missing. Full story

A rescued miner is helped out at the Gaomendong coal mine in Jiaxian county, Pingdingshan city, central China's Henan Province Nov. 18, 2008. Of the 34-trapped miners in the flooded coalmine accident, one died and one was still missing. The other thirty-two were successfully lifted out early Tuesday morning.(Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>