An underground flood killed at least 22 people and left seven others missing at a coal mine in the north-eastern Chinese province of Liaoning, state media said on Sunday. Water flooded a shaft on Saturday night at the state-run Laohutai mine in Fushun city as 29 miners were working underground, the official Xinhua news agency quoted local safety officials as saying, according to dpa. The 100-year-old mine had been listed as one of China's 45 most dangerous coal mines because of a high risk of flooding, fire and gas leaks, the agency said. The mine still employed 7,200 people and produced 3.35 million tons per year from its 160 million tons of proven coal reserves. Rescue workers had recovered 22 bodies and were still searching for the seven missing miners late Sunday, it said. The accident is the latest in a long string of coal mining disasters in China, where about 6,000 people die in mining accidents each year.
