Coalminers Trapped In Wales

British rescue workers are pumping water from a flooded coalmine in South Wales in an attempt to reach four trapped miners.

Rescuers say they have not been able to contact the men, trapped 90 metres underground at the Gleision Colliery near Swansea, and it is not immediately clear what condition they are in nor what caused the mine to flood.

"Unfortunately we have had no communication with the miners," Mines Rescue Service official Mark Tibbott said.

Advertisement: Story continues below

"You do get air pockets and hopefully the men are in an air pocket," he told Sky News.

Mr Tibbott said four pumps were taking water out of the mine, and "the good news is water levels are receding slowly".

The mine shaft was not blocked by fallen rock, but water was preventing emergency workers from reaching the men, South Wales Police Superintendent Phil Davies said.

Police said three other miners got out of the mine after the accident on Thursday morning. The head of the Wales regional government, First Minister Carwyn Jones, said one miner was taken to hospital in a critical condition.

"As someone with very strong family links with both the Swansea Valley and the mining industry, my thoughts and prayers - and those of the people of Wales - are with the trapped men and their families at this difficult time," he said.

The British government's Welsh Secretary, Cheryl Gillan, said she was "praying for the safe rescue of all involved".

"My thoughts are with the miners, their families and the emergency services working to free them," she said.

The small mine, burrowed into a steep and isolated hillside, is one of the few remainders of Britain's once-mighty coal mining industry, which for decades dominated the economy of South Wales.

The worst mining accident in British history was in 1913, when 439 miners were killed in a gas explosion at the Senghenydd colliery in South Wales.

Seven people have been killed in mining accidents in Britain since 2006, according to Health and Safety Executive statistics.

AP

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/four-coalminers-trapped-in-south-wales-20110916-1kccw.html#ixzz1Y6S5WgNh