The owner of a gypsum mine that collapsed in China on Friday died from drowning in an apparent suicide on Sunday.

Initial reports say Chinese executive Ma Congbo, president of The Yurong Commerce and Trade Ltd. Co., was assisting in efforts to retrieve trapped miners Sunday morning when he suddenly jumped into one of the mine wells and drowned.

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The gypsum mine, located in eastern China's Shandong province, collapsed on Friday, leaving one dead and more than a dozen others injured as they were left trapped inside the mine for two days.

Continuing rescue efforts have so far extricated 11 miners from the site but 17 other workers remained trapped.

Shandong authorities have yet to issue an official statement as to why Mr. Congbos jumped into the water to his death, but China is known to mete out harsh punishments over workplace negligence that result in fatal accidents.

These punishments often include imprisonment of company officials and local safety officials who are found remiss in their inspection jobs.

The mine, which extracts the soft sulfate mineral Gypsum that is used in construction work, collapsed just days after a massive landslide hit a famous industrial park in the southern city of Shenzhen, toppling buildings and yielded one confirmed death while leaving 75 other people missing and presumed dead.

China's mines have long been deemed as the deadliest work places across the country. Last year alone, 931 people were reported killed in mine-related accidents, a much smaller figure than the 7,000 miner deaths recorded in 2002.

TagsChina Mine Collapse, Shandong Mine Collapse