Forty-seven still missing in collapsed coal mine

Rescuers use radar to monitor the accident site as the rescue continues at a collapsed coal mine in Alshaa League, Inner Mongolia autonomous region, on Friday. LIAN ZHEN/XINHUA

Forty-seven people were still missing as of 2 pm on Friday in the rubble of a collapsed coal mine in Alshaa League, Inner Mongolia autonomous region, and potential secondary slumping poses the biggest challenge for rescuers, said rescue authorities.

The accident happened at around 1 pm on Wednesday.

By Friday morning, more than 1,100 rescuers were at the scene, according to Alshaa League's administrative office.

Cheng Xiangdong, an officer from the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Fire Rescue Corps, said at a news conference on Friday that they are using life detectors and rescue dogs to determine the specific location of the trapped people after drawing a boundary of the area by comparing satellite and on-site monitoring pictures.

They are also searching for people by finding trapped vehicles first. They have adopted metal detectors and positioning machines to locate vehicles, Cheng said.

"The rescue is difficult," he said, adding that judging from the situation in the past two days, the landslide area at the site is large and the collapse accumulation is high. Another collapse may occur again anytime.

"Even if there is a little hope, we will never give up and will manage to rescue the trapped people in the shortest time," Cheng said.

Zhang Yong, an expert from the rescue group of the Inner Mongolia's emergency response headquarters, said at the conference that it is necessary to build roads between landslides for rescue machines to move.

The expert group has also planned that rescue workers should use both excavators and hammers to ensure continuous and efficient operation.

Contact the writers at lihongyang@chinadaily.com.cn