The 10 miners rescued from a flooded coal mine in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region are all out of danger, a local official said Friday evening.

 

The miners have been transferred to a better hospital for treatment after receiving first aid at a township medical center near the mine, said Gao Yunfeng, deputy head of the Jungar Banner (an equivalent to county), where the accident happened.

 

The flooding occurred after a sudden rainstorm at the Jinli Coal Mine at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, when 12 miners were working underground.

 

Rescue for the two missing is hampered as their location remains a mystery, said Gao, also deputy director of the rescue headquarters.

 

The survivors, however, said the structure of the mine is quite complicated and there are many lanes to protect them against danger, and as a result, the survival chances of the two missing people are quite large.

 

The mine is about 250 km from Hohhot, the regional capital and its annual production is 300,000 tons.

 

(Xinhua News Agency July 15, 2006)