The bodies of ten miners were retrieved from a flooded mine in Sichuan, southwest China, while two other men were still trapped underground, said the official media on Sunday.
The mine shaft was invaded by the waters last Monday when 30 miners were working. Eighteen of them escaped and rescuers were trying today to reach two miners still trapped, reported state news agency Xinhua, citing local authorities. The mine owner and his security officer were arrested, according to a spokesman quoted by news agency.
This is the latest fatal accident in mining industry, a sector regularly overshadowed by disasters. Yesterday, the official Chinese media had reported that three workers trapped in a mine in the Northeast had little chance to survive.
Chinese coal mines, the deadliest in the world, have witnessed a series of accidents in recent years as energy demand soar. Some 2,433 miners were killed last year in coal mines in China, an average of six more fatalities every day, according to official statistics.