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Maryann Xue

At least three of the 14 construction workers trapped for nearly a week in a flooded tunnel in southern China have died, as nearly 2,000 rescuers continue their desperate attempt to reach the remaining men.
Two of the dead were found on Monday afternoon, according to the local government of Zhuhai in Guangdong province, with the third discovered later.
The workers were more than a kilometre (0.62 miles) from the entrance to the Shijinshan tunnel – under construction as part of a major expressway linking the city to the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge – when it was inundated at around 3.30am on Thursday.

“We are fighting for every second to save them,” Zhuhai mayor Huang Zhihao said on Tuesday. While the rescuers had advanced more than 850 metres, they were still about 300 metres from where the workers were believed to be trapped, he said.
Most of the water was pumped from the tunnel, which runs under a reservoir, in the early stage of the rescue by the teams which have been drawn from Zhuhai and surrounding districts.
The mayor pledged to make public the results of an investigation into the cause of the flooding. “We will find out the cause of the accident, and bear whatever responsibilities that should be borne,” he said.
According to local media reports, 12 of the 14 trapped workers are from Shimen county in neighbouring Hunan province. The mother of one of the men was quoted by Jimu News, a social media platform run by the Hubei Daily newspaper group, as saying her son had called her just a few days before the accident. “He said he would be back when the citrus at home is ripe,” she is reported to have said.
Among the trapped workers are two sets of brothers, according to Jimu News, while most of the men are believed to come from the same village. “Everyone is a fellow villager. They introduced each other and went to the same construction site,” one person was quoted as saying.

Gan Zhanzi, senior geotechnical engineer with the Guangdong Provincial Bureau of Geology, told state news agency Xinhua that the workers were believed to be trapped on a downhill slope, making the rescue effort difficult.
The on-site rescue headquarters also said the narrowness of the tunnel, combined with other geological conditions, was complicating the operation.
The accident was the second to occur in the tunnel since March, when a collapsed wall killed two workers.


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3 dead as southern China tunnel flood rescue effort reaches 6th day

At least three men have died and 11 are still missing as rescue workers continue to search a tunnel which flooded during construction on Thursday in Zhuhai, in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong. Photo: Handout

Rescuers build embankments to pump out water from a flooded tunnel in Zhuhai city in south China's Guangdong province Friday, July 16, 2021. Divers have been dispatched in the search for 14 workers missing since water flooded a tunnel under construction in southern China three days ago, authorities said Sunday, July 18, 2021. (Chinatopix via AP)

== PICTURE CAPTURED FROM WEIBIO == At least three workers have been found dead in a flooded tunnel under construction in Zhuhai of southern Guangdong province after being trapped for six days.Â At around 3:30 am on July 15, water flooded the Shijinshan tunnel, trapping 14 workers more than a kilometer from the entrance. Two of the dead workers were found Monday afternoon, with a third body being found since then, according to the local government.Â The tunnel, which is being built under a reservoir, is part of a major expressway that links the city to the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge. While the tunnel remained submerged, water has since receded.Photo: WEIBIO

Rescuers drain floodwaters in race to free Chinese workers trapped in tunnel

Search teams were trying to drain the tunnel. Photo: Weibo

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Eight people died after a home collapsed while under construction in Dahu township in Fujian province on Friday. Photo: Weibo

China hotel collapse death toll rises to 8 as hunt goes on for missing 9

More than 500 firefighters are searching for survivors in the rubble of the hotel in eastern China. Photo: Weibo

== PICTURE CAPTURED FROM WEIBIO == A hotel collapsed in eastern China Monday, leaving at least one person dead and 10 others missing, the local government said.Rescuers had pulled seven survivors from the rubble of the budget Siji Kaiyuan hotel in the popular tourist city of Suzhou, according to a statement on the city governmentâs official social media account.Â The Suzhou government said it was âsparing no effort to treat the injuredâ, adding that authorities were investigating the cause of the disaster.Photo: WEIBIO

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Rescuers are still about 300 metres from where the remaining 11 construction workers are believed to be trapped
Geological conditions are hampering the rescue operation after most of the water was pumped from the tunnel



Rescuers are still about 300 metres from where the remaining 11 construction workers are believed to be trapped.


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Zhuhai

Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge