Nine Rescued Alive From Flooded China Mine: state TV

Nine rescued alive from flooded China mine: state TV

(AFP) – 2 hours ago

BEIJING — Nine workers were rescued alive from a Chinese coal mine early Monday, more than a week after the vast site flooded trapping 153 miners underground, state television said.

China Central Television showed live footage from the Wangjialing mine, in the northern province of Shanxi, of several of the rescued men -- the first known survivors -- being rushed to hospital in ambulances.

They were strapped to stretchers, wrapped in green blankets and had towels covering their eyes and blackened faces to protect them from lights after more than 179 hours trapped in the flooded mine.

Groups of rescue workers wearing orange jumpsuits loaded the survivors into awaiting ambulances, while medical personnel dressed in white administered intravenous drips and oxygen.

An official from the work safety watchdog was quoted as saying from the scene that there were still hopes more workers could be rescued alive during the ongoing operation.

State television said sounds from within the mine further indicated the possibility of more survivors as numerous ambulances awaited at the mouth of the facility.

Despite being past midnight, thousands of people lined along the road applauded as ambulances carrying the survivors rushed past, the state Xinhua news agency said.

The vital signs of four survivors appeared to be stable, while the others were being given emergency treatment, the report said, quoting hospital officials in the city of Hejin, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the mine.

One survivor identified himself as Li Guoyu, 38, from neighbouring Henan province, the television report said, adding all nine men were conscious and alert, and two were communicating with each other.

At least 3,000 rescuers have been racing against time to pump water out of the mine after it flooded on March 28, the latest in a series of accidents to hit the notoriously dangerous industry in China.

Rescuers entered the mine over the weekend but had said conditions were "complex" and they found more water in the shaft than anticipated.

Previously, the only vague sign of life in the huge site came on Friday, when rescuers heard a tapping sound on a drill pipe.

A team of 100 rescue workers descended into the mine again at about 10:30 pm Sunday (1430 GMT) and discovered the nine two hours later, the China News Service said.

Within 40 minutes of finding them, they had been brought out of the mine pit, it said.

As the first team of rescuers exited the mine with the survivors, a second team was dispatched into the pit to search for the remaining 144 missing, the report said.

The accident occurred when workers apparently dug into an older adjacent mine that had been shut down and filled with water, press reports have said.

The work safety watchdog blamed the accident on lax safety standards by the mine owner, the Huajin Coking Coal Company, which failed to heed repeated warnings that water was accumulating in the pit days before the disaster.

Workers at the mine, which was under construction, had also been ordered to step up the pace of work in order to ensure that coal production began by October this year, the safety watchdog said.

It has been a disastrous past week for China's mining sector. Altogether, nearly 30 people have died and almost 200 are missing after five separate coal mining accidents.

Workers' safety is often ignored in China's collieries in the quest for quick profits and the drive to meet surging demand for coal -- the source of about 70 percent of the country's energy.

According to official statistics, 2,631 coal miners were killed last year in China -- or about seven a day -- down by 584 from 2008.

In August 2007, 172 workers died in a mine flood in the eastern province of Shandong.
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