102 Chinese Still Trapped Inside Mine

Rescuers continued searching today for 102 miners trapped for two days in a flooded illegal coal mine in southern China as officials urged 65 managers who fled the scene to return, the government said.

Only four miners managed to escape after the tunnel, which lies almost 1,400 feet underground, was flooded Sunday at the privately owned Daxing mine in Guangdong province.

The official New China News Agency said the number of miners trapped may be more than the 102 previously reported. But because the mine’s managers had fled, rescuers were unable to get an accurate count of those confined underground, the news agency reported, citing Chen Ganglin, a local Communist Party official.

Chen was quoted as saying that more than 600 people were involved in rescue efforts and that the water level had dropped since Sunday, but late Monday there was still no sign of survivors.

The Daxing mine was operating without a license, the news agency said.