The number of miners believed trapped by flood waters in a Chinese coal mine has risen to 57, while several mine managers have been detained for trying to cover up the scale of the disaster.
The official Chinese news agency, Xinhua, said nine managers were arrested for saying originally that only five miners were missing after the mine in the northern province of Shanxi, Zuoyun county flooded on Thursday.
Xinhua also said that managerial staff tried to send relatives of the trapped miners to nearby Inner Mongolia to keep them from talking to the media or rioting.
The head of the Xinjing coal mine remains at large.
The cause of the flooding in the Xinjing Mine is under investigation.
China's mines are the most dangerous in the world, and officials have repeatedly pledged to crack down on negligent mine operators. Almost 6,000 Chinese miners were killed in accidents across the country last year.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
