Thirty or forty miners gathered in front of the mine, some of them lived in the mine, and some of them lived nearby and came to help after hearing the news.

"Brothers miners, I am the Secretary of the Party Committee and Deputy Director of the Nanqiao County Coal Management Bureau, and my name is Li Rui." Li Rui jumped onto a minecart and shouted at the crowd, and the originally noisy crowd suddenly quieted down, and their eyes were all on Li Rui standing on the minecart.

"Everyone knows that now we have forty-six miner brothers trapped under the mine, and we need to understand the situation below, the speed of the water level, the reason for the permeability, and where the specific permeability point is......"

"When we went down just now, the roadway leading to the work face was flooded, and people couldn't get through it at all, how to check......

"Like, who knows if there are other places where else will be permeable?"

"If we really dig up groundwater, we will collapse if we don't get it right, isn't this telling us to die?"

Li Rui was just halfway through his words when he was interrupted by the gossip below.

"Everyone's right!" Li Rui raised his voice and said loudly: "Just now your mine manager An also told me so, but these can happen, and our forty-six brothers are now really trapped below, and their lives are in danger at any time, maybe some of them have already ...... But no matter what, we can't afford to watch these brothers die. ”

Then Li Rui slowed down a little and said: "Everyone works in the same mine, and they are very familiar with the brothers below on weekdays, some of them may be related, and some of them may be brothers and sisters who drink and play cards together." Is it just for the sake of some possible danger that these forty-six brothers are being disregarded? ”

"Isn't the rescue team about to arrive? Why don't you let the rescue team go down, you have to go down? Another voice questioned.

"Who says the rescue team can't go down? How can you save people if you don't go down? However, as someone said just now, the situation is very complicated, and it may take several hours or even a day for the rescue team to find out the situation. You are different, you have been working down there for many years, and you are definitely more familiar with the situation than the rescue team. And Mine Chief An will also go down, he is your old mage here, probably the one who is most familiar with the situation, and I will also go down. But it's not enough for the two of us, and now I only need three people, three people who are familiar with the situation below. Find out the situation of water penetration, so that the rescue team can immediately enter the rescue and save people as soon as they arrive. Brothers miners, we risk losing a life if we delay for a minute now. Three people, I need three people, if anyone is willing, please take the initiative to stand up. ”

"I'll go, my cousin is still down there, he's definitely still alive." The first person stepped forward.

"I'll go too, there is my second uncle below, their family is all supported by my second uncle alone, if he has any three long and two short, the pillars of their family will collapse, I must rescue my second uncle." Someone else came forward.

"I'll go."

"I'll go too, no one is afraid of being an official, what am I afraid of."

"Yes, let's go."

Seven or eight people stood out of the crowd at once.

Li Rui stood on the minecart and smiled: "Okay! Everybody's doing well! But it doesn't take so many people, three is enough. ”

Jiang Liansheng, who was standing on the side, couldn't help but say to Ma Xuejun beside him when he saw this scene: "Your Secretary Li really has two hits, and these rabbit cubs didn't dare to go down one by one just now." ”

Ma Xuejun also said sincerely: "Of course, even I listened to what I said just now. If I were a few years younger, I would have gone down. ”

Li Rui changed into a miner's clothes, wearing a hard hat on his head and a miner's lamp, and for the sake of insurance, An Guangmin specially selected four people, all of whom were strong miners who were familiar with the situation below. Carry a long enough rope and emergency lights with you.

The power supply had been cut off due to water entering the power distribution room below, and the six of them had to walk slowly down the minecart's tracks. Although the outside also shines in with a searchlight inside, but as it goes deeper a little bit, and there are turns, the searchlight can't shine for a long time, only the miner's lamp on his head and the emergency lamp in his hand are left.

"Everybody be careful." An Guangmin led the way in front, Li Rui walked behind him and hugged him, the old guy was old, and he was already out of breath due to psychological tension.

After walking for nearly a kilometer in the dark, and when the altitude dropped by about three or four hundred meters, An Guangmin stopped, "The water has already overflowed here." ”

An Guang's civil emergency lamp carefully illuminated the surrounding situation, and said with a stern expression: "The front should be the power distribution room, and the terrain here is about two meters higher than the power distribution room......

A young miner who followed him had come down when he was installing the drain and was surprised: "The water is coming so fast!" When we came down earlier, the water had just arrived at the door of the power distribution room. ”

"When you came down, it had been almost two hours now, and the water was still pumping outside, and the water level had risen by one meter in an hour, and the height of the working face was about ten meters higher than that of the roadway." An Guangmin closed his eyes and pinched his fingers, "Even if the high-power drainage pump of the rescue team is in place in an hour, it is estimated that it will take two to three hours to install the pipe, and then drain the water ......."

An Guangmin opened his eyes and said with a sad face: "The operation surface can last for a maximum of thirty hours, unless the drainage capacity outside can reach five hundred cubic meters per hour." But if you want to get people out, even if the displacement is doubled, it will take at least seventy or eighty hours. The people inside didn't eat or drink, and they didn't know how long they could last? ”

"During the seventy-two hour golden rescue period, even if you don't have anything to eat, as long as you grasp everything possible to drain the water as soon as possible, there should still be hope. And there is no shortage of water here, although it is a little dirty, at least it can quench your thirst. Li Rui patted An Guangmin's shoulder and comforted.

"Water?" An Guangmin was suddenly stunned, then squatted down and picked up the water in the mine, carefully observed the color of the water under the illumination of the miner's lamp, and then tasted it again.

"Phew! Bah! As soon as the water was drunk into his mouth, he hurriedly spit it out, "It's bitter and astringent, and the color is red, this is the old empty water of Xiaoyao." Saying that, An Guangmin looked annoyed and said: "I didn't pay attention to look at the water when it was just pumped out, and now it is clear that they must have touched the old kiln when they were drilling." I have long told them that we have been mining coal in this area of Changshan since the Qing Dynasty, and we must pay attention to these old kilns and do a good job of waterproofing when excavating. They just don't listen, Boss Chen usually doesn't take it seriously, what's wrong now? ”

"What is the old empty water of the small kiln?" Li Rui really doesn't know anything about the professional names on these coal mines.

Without waiting for An Guangmin to answer, a miner next to him said: "Xiaoyao Lao Empty Water is the goaf where coal was dug before, and it is filled with water after a long time, which is equivalent to a small underground reservoir. Moreover, this is stagnant water, acidic, and astringent, and it will be poisoned if you drink it. ”

It's really a house leak that happens to be rainy, if there is nothing to eat for three or four days, it can be endured, once there is a lack of water, it will be a big trouble, and there is so much poisonous water, I am afraid that someone will not be able to hold on, then it will really become a drink to quench thirst.

"That's not right!" An Guangmin suddenly exclaimed again, "Once the water bursts through the old empty water in Xiaoyao, it will be very fierce, and someone will definitely be washed away." Didn't you see a single person when you came down to set up the pipes just now? ”

"Nope." The young miner shook his head and said, "At that time, there was electricity below, and we searched carefully, but we didn't see half a figure, and no one answered the call." We found the roadway leading to the working face, where the water had reached two-thirds of the height of the roadway, and people couldn't get through it at all, so we returned. ”

Li Rui also understood, and at the same time felt a chill in his backbone, once the old empty water of this small kiln is permeable, it is like this small underground reservoir bursting the embankment, and the water that washes out is extremely fierce, as long as there are people on the operation surface, they will definitely be washed away, which means that it is entirely possible that there have been major casualties.

Li Rui took a deep breath and said, "Since we are here, let's go to the roadway that leads to the flooded operation surface." ”

An Guangmin and Li Rui also had the same idea and were anxious to take a look, so they hurriedly ordered to wrap the ropes they brought around their waists, leaving two people to guard here, and the other two who had come down before waded through the water with them and walked slowly in the direction of the work face.

As the terrain descended, the water slowly sank from the ankles to the waist, and it felt like the current was very fast, and it was possible to be washed down by the water if you were not careful.

"It seems that the permeable place must be the working surface, where the terrain is high, and the water rushes down condescendingly, so it is not only urgent but also rises quickly." An Guangmin walked as he walked, and the two looked at each other, both with deep worries.