The World : 21 Miners Feared Dead

Rescue workers in southern Chile said 21 coal miners are feared dead after a wall gave way, filling the mine shaft with floodwaters caused by heavy rains. Divers entered the mine after pumps working through the night failed to lower the water level in the shaft in Chile’s main coal-mining region, 450 miles south of the capital, Santiago. Firefighters said that an adjacent, abandoned mine filled up with water during heavy rainfall in the last week, and the pressure burst a wall separating the two shafts. Only four miners who were working near the surface managed to escape the rush of water.