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Flooding from a neighboring mine poured some 20,000 cubic meters of water into the Fengxing coal mine in the city of Jiaohe on April 6, trapping 12 of the 70 workers onsite.
The details released by Chinese state press agency Xinhua stated that retrieval of the bodies required a week-long effort to pump and drain floodwater, much longer than the “golden 72 hours” which was optimal for successful rescue.
The news follows yesterday’s Xinhua report that 10 workers were killed in an underground coal mine in the northern Shanxi province.
On April 9, China’s State Administration of Work Safety announced it would require coal miners to increase investment towards improving facilities, education, underground shelters and monitoring equipment.
Jilin is a resource-rich province in northeast China bordering both North Korea and Russia.
According to China Business World, the province holds a coal reserve of 22 billion tons.
