Six university students drown while visiting mine in China

Six students from a university in China drowned Wednesday after falling into a flotation tank while visiting a mine in the country’s Inner Mongolia region.

HONG KONG — Six students from a university in China drowned Wednesday after falling into a flotation tank while visiting a mine in the country’s Inner Mongolia region.

The students from Northeastern University in Liaoning province were observing the flotation process when a grid plate they were standing on suddenly gave way, causing them to fall into the tank, according to Xinhua, China’s state-run news agency.

“Despite rescue efforts, all six students were confirmed drowned after being pulled from the tank. One teacher was also injured,” Zhongjin Gold, a subsidiary of state-owned China National Gold Group that operates the mine, said in a company filing Thursday.

Flotation tanks are used to separate different types of small mineral particles, said Richard Williams, principal and vice chancellor of Scotland-based Heriot-Watt University, who has a background in mineral engineering.

Anyone who falls into the tank could pass through the thick foam on top “and then find themselves in a mixed slurry or in contact with the mixer blades,” Williams said in emailed comments.