News / China

Four miners rescued in China after 36 days underground

Saturday, 30 January 2016 7:44 AM [ Last Update: Saturday, 30 January 2016 7:46 AM ]

A trapped worker is lifted from a collapsed gypsum mine after spending 36 days underground in Pingyi, Shandong Province, January 29, 2016. ©AP

Rescuers have pulled out four miners who had been trapped underground for 36 days in a collapsed gypsum mine in eastern China.

On Friday, the state broadcaster CCTV showed rescue crews applauding as the men were brought above the ground in the county of Pingyi in China’s Shandong Province.

The workers were stuck more than 200 meters (660 feet) below the surface.

A total of 29 miners were trapped when the mine collapsed on December 25 last year. The following day, 11 were pulled out to safety and one was pronounced dead.

Taking into account the newly rescued four miners, 13 workers still remain unaccounted for.

A trapped worker is lifted from a collapsed gypsum mine after spending 36 days underground in Pingyi, Shandong Province, January 29, 2016. ©Reuters

Rescuers first detected signs of life on December 30, 2015 and managed to contact the miners and send down food, clothes and lamps through a tunnel.

They brought out the workers through two access tunnels they had drilled, according to China’s official Xinhua news agency.

The men were shown being wrapped in blankets, blindfolded to protect their eyes and put into ambulances.

Cao Qingde, deputy head of the local hospital where the miners are being treated, told Xinhua that the men had suffered no major injuries and would soon be able to return home.

China, which is considered as the world’s largest producer of coal, is struggling to enhance enforcement of safety regulations in the mining sector. Last year, accidents in coal mines across the East Asian state reportedly killed 931 people.

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