The owner of a Chinese gypsum mine committed suicide Sunday after a cave-in which killed one person and left 17 trapped, state media said.
Ma Congbo drowned himself while he was at the scene helping the rescue, the official Xinhua news agency said, according to AFP.
Over 700 rescuers are battling to save the workers after the Friday accident in the eastern province of Shandong, it said, adding that four had managed to escape and seven more had been pulled out of the mine.