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6 freed from flooded China mineshaft

The Associated Press

Rescuers Thursday freed six miners trapped in a flooded shaft in northern China and were in contact with five others, a news agency said, but there was no word on the fate of another 24 who were still missing.

Those rescued from the Haolaigou iron mine near the city of Baotou in the sprawling Inner Mongolia Region were taken to a hospital and appeared to be in good health, the Xinhua News Agency said. It said they had sheltered on a mining platform that had stayed dry after the flood.

Xinhua said the miners exited through a slanting shaft dug by the rescuers. The other five were sheltering inside the shaft’s support structure, it said.

The report did not say what caused the flood, which occurred as miners were changing shifts. Eleven other miners fled above ground ahead of the rising waters.

Most mine floods occur when miners break through into underground rivers or abandoned shafts that have since filled with water.

Such accidents can be deadly. Flooding killed 57 workers at a mine in Shanxi province just south of Inner Mongolia in May. Managers seeking production bonuses had dismissed warnings about water leaks just days before the accident.

The miners in Shanxi were among at least 4,746 people killed last year in mine floods, explosions and fires, most blamed on lax safety measures.