Hopes faded on Monday for 102 Chinese workers trapped in a flooded coal mine after water levels inside the pit failed to drop by evening, while an explosion at another mine killed 14 people, state media reported.
The flooding at the colliery in Xingning in the southern province of Guangdong on Sunday was believed to have been caused by miners accidentally breaking through into an underground water channel, China Central Television said.
"Chances of the trapped workers surviving are relatively small," the Xinhua news agency quoted a vice mayor of nearby Meizhou as saying.
By Monday morning, the mine was filled with 15 million to 20 million cubic metres of water, he said.
China relies on coal for more than two-thirds of its energy needs but accidents in the mining industry - the world's most dangerous - claimed 2,700 lives in the first half of 2005 alone.
The China News Service said adjoining mines had been ordered to suspend production and evacuate workers.
Further west, 14 miners were killed on Monday and two were missing in a gas explosion at a mine in Liupanshui, in south-west Guizhou province. Only 23 miners managed to escape, Xinhua said.
Last month flooding at a coal mine in Xingning killed 16 workers, Xinhua said.
Beijing recently announced the closure of a string of tiny private mines, often the worst violators of safety regulations.
But high prices and the booming economy's voracious appetite for power encourage some to reopen illegally and others to ignore regulations or push production beyond capacity.
China's coal consumption is expected to rise by around six percent this year, Xinhua quoted the China Coal Industry Association saying.
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