Chinese rescuers find 26 bodies in flooded mine

BEIJING, Mar 29 (Reuters) The bodies of 26 Chinese coal miners have been found 11 days after their pit was flooded, Xinhua news agency today said.

China has the world's deadliest mining industry. Coal mine floods, blasts and other disasters claimed nearly 6,000 lives last year, making newspaper headlines on an almost daily basis.

Some 58 miners were working underground on March 18 when the shaft flooded at the mine in Linxian county, northern Shanxi province, and only 30 managed to escape, Xinhua said.

''There is little chance the two missing miners will return alive, but the search efforts will continue until their whereabouts are confirmed,'' Xinhua quoted a local official as saying.

The families of the dead will each get 200,000 yuan in compensation, Xinhua said.

REUTERS SY BST1515