The 10 workers trapped underground following Sunday’s coalmine collapse on the outskirts of Beijing remain out of reach. Rescue efforts are continuing.

A veteran coal miner said that the rescue team had been unable to reach the trapped people in its latest effort, suggesting that the fourth attempt to pump oxygen to the miners had failed.

The workers from the Da’anshan Coal Mine in west Beijing’s Fangshan District had been stuck underground for more than 90 hours as of press time.

Xinhua News Agency reports that rescue teams have encountered unprecedented difficulties. A complex geological structure may be hampering rescue efforts.

Ten ambulances and scores of medical workers are waiting outside the mine, and the nearby area has been cordoned off since midnight on Tuesday.

The state-owned coalmine enterprise has ceased production, and all miners will be trained in safety procedures.

But an unidentified source at the scene said that not all of the families of the trapped miners have been notified. The source said that the practice of withholding notification of accident or death from next of kin is prevalent in Chinese coal mines. Miners who are uninjured are forbidden to report the incident and those who breach confidentiality risk losing their jobs, the source indicated.

In this instance, some family members had accompanied their husbands or brothers from their hometowns in southwest China’s Sichuan Province to Beijing Da’anshan mine, and thus learned about the tragedy when the men did not leave work on time.

Most miners at Da’anshan earn 1,000 yuan (US$120) per month. Many traveled from Sichuan Province to work in the mine.

(China Daily June 10, 2004)