11 Chinese miners rescued after 14 days underground

One of the miners at the Hushan mine in Shandong province being taken to safety yesterday. A blast at the mine on Jan 10 trapped 22 miners about 600m underground. One miner is known to have died and 10 are unaccounted for.
One of the miners at the Hushan mine in Shandong province being taken to safety yesterday. A blast at the mine on Jan 10 trapped 22 miners about 600m underground. One miner is known to have died and 10 are unaccounted for. PHOTO: XINHUA

BEIJING • Chinese rescuers pulled 11 gold miners to safety yesterday, with most of them in good condition after being trapped underground for 14 days following an explosion. But 10 of their co-workers were still unaccounted for, state media reported.

Television footage showed the first miner as he was brought to the surface, a blindfold shielding his eyes from the daylight.

The miner was extremely weak, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

Rescue workers wrapped the barely responsive man in a blanket and took him to hospital.

Over the next few hours, 10 miners from a different section of the mine, who had been getting food and medical supplies down a shaft from rescue workers last week, were brought out in batches.

"We made a breakthrough this morning," Mr Xiao Wenru, chief engineer at the rescue centre, told Xinhua news agency. "After clearing these broken, powdery pieces, we found cavities underneath... our progress accelerated."

Officials had said last Thursday it could take another two weeks to drill a rescue shaft through blockages to reach the group of 10.

One of the men brought to the surface was injured but several were shown walking, supported by rescue workers and wearing black cloth over their eyes, before being taken away by ambulance.

They were in good physical condition and had been getting normal food since Saturday, after several days of living off nutrient solutions, Xinhua reported.

China's mines are among the world's deadliest. The country recorded 573 mine-related deaths last year, according to the National Mine Safety Administration.

The Jan 10 blast at the Hushan mine in Qixia, a major gold-producing region under the administration of Yantai city in coastal Shandong province, trapped 22 workers about 600m underground.

One miner is known to have died. Ten are unaccounted for.

The workers' escape is similar to the 2010 rescue of 33 miners trapped in the San Jose copper-gold mine in Chile for over 69 days.

The Chilean miners, who were caught in a cave-in, survived on rations for 17 days until rescuers drilled a tiny hole into the chamber where they had taken refuge.

Weeks later, a larger hole was drilled and the miners were pulled to the surface.

REUTERS

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on January 25, 2021, with the headline 11 Chinese miners rescued after 14 days underground. Subscribe