Rescuers Search for 102 Trapped Miners

Rescuers were using water pumps in an effort to reach 102 miners who were trapped underground in a coal mine flood in southern China, as top leaders ordered an all-out effort to rescue them.

Four miners escaped from the mine after the accident, which occurred at 1:30 p.m. in a tunnel 1,378 feet underground at the privately owned Daxing Colliery in Guangdong province, the official New China News Agency reported. With the water level still rising at a rate of 20 inches an hour, the chances for survival of the miners were slim, the news agency cited experts as saying.