Six rescued after 3 days in China coal mine

BEIJING: Six miners have been pulled alive from a Chinese mine three days after it flooded, state media said on Monday.

Two people died and three others are still missing after the flood in the coal-producing heartland of Shanxi province, in the north of the country. The six survivors, all apparently in good health, were brought out of the mine on Sunday to the applause of rescue teams, Xinhua news agency reported.

Efforts to find the three missing miners were ongoing, the report said. There were 75 miners in the pit when it was inundated on Thursday, 64 of whom escaped safely.

Government figures say around 2,600 people were killed last year in China's vast mining industry, which is plagued by lax safety regulation, corruption and inefficiency. Activists say the true death toll is likely to be higher, with many accidents covered up.

In March, a flood at the huge, unfinished Wangjialing mine in Shanxi left 153 workers trapped underground. A total of 115 were recovered alive in what was counted as a rare successful rescue for the accident-prone industry.