Rescuers pumping water out to save 22 trapped miners in China

Rescuers today raced against time to save the lives of 22 miners trapped in a flooded coal mine in southwestern China.
The officials moved to pump out water from the mine in Yunnan Province that was flooded in the pre-dawn hours today.
The deputy head of the rescue headquarters said that the 22 miners were "still out of contact" though the water level in the shaft in Qilin District of Qujing City was dropping.
The mine was flooded at around 4:50 a.M., when 26 workers were working underground. Four workers have been since rescued.
Local authorities have sent three high-power pumps and more than 500 people to take part in the rescue efforts, said Zhang, also vice mayor of Qujing, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Last year, accidents in Chinese coal mines killed 1,049 people, according to official figures.
China is the world's largest consumer of coal and its accident-probe mining industry is often under-regulated.
In December, 21 miners died in an explosion at a coal mine in China's western Xinjiang region.