Chinese rescuers attempt to save 27 trapped miners

BEIJING: Rescuers blasted through mud and debris Sunday to try and reach 27 miners trapped after a massive landslide buried an iron ore plant and several homes in southwestern China, leaving 26 people dead and dozens missing. The landslide buried the Jiwei Mountain iron ore mine and covered its two entrances with rocks Friday while 27 miners were stuck hundreds of feet below ground, a news agency said. Authorities believe they could still be alive. No official death toll has been released, but state television reported Saturday that 26 people were killed _ 19 miners and seven staff from a mobile phone company. When asked to confirm the report, Chongqing government spokesman Ai Yang said no bodies had been found so far. Hundreds of rescuers scoured the debris with sniffer dogs Saturday but found no signs of life, the news agency quoted a spokesman wit hthe rescue headquarters as saying. The landslide occurred in Wulong county, about 90 miles (150kilometers) from resource-rich Chongqing city, where industrial accidents are common. The news agency said the miners were about 490 to 660 feet (150 to 200meters) below ground and that authorities estimated that the air and water supply in the mine could support them for five to seven days. Rescuers tried to reach the shaft where the miners are believed to be trapped by setting off explosives Saturday near one of the mine's entrances, the news agency said. More explosives were detonated Sunday, the state TV said. Plans were under way to drill a 130-foot (40-meter) deep hole to give the miners air and send down water and food. A Wulong county Communist Party official, who would only give her surname Zhu, said Sunday that 72 people were missing, including the trapped miners. It was unclear whether that number included the deaths reported by the TV. Zhu did not provide other details. Among those missing are residents, telecom company workers and passers-by. Rescuers pulled out eight people late Friday, three of them seriously injured. China's vice-premier in charge of industrial policies, Zhang Dejiang, inspected the rescue work Saturday and urged precautions against secondary disasters, the news agency said, adding to earlier calls by President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao to spare no effort to save those buried. Experts were investigating the cause, the news agency said. An official with the Chongqing work safety supervision bureau, who would give only his surname Dong because he was not authorized to speak to media, said the landslide did not appear to be related to mining activities. A landslide last year killed at least 277 people when a shoddy holding reservoir burst and inundated a valley in Shanxi province in northern China with mud and iron-mining waste.