'Miracle' rescue of four China miners after 36 days underground
Workers trapped more than 200 metres underground are hoisted to safety but 13 still missing
PUBLISHED : Saturday, 30 January, 2016, 11:01pm
UPDATED : Sunday, 31 January, 2016, 8:19am
Agence France-Presse in Shanghai
A trapped worker is lifted from a collapsed mine in Pingyi in Shandong province. Photo: Reuters
Four miners trapped underground for 36 days in a collapsed gypsum mine have been freed in a “miracle” rescue in a country with a poor track record on industrial accidents.
The final operation to save the men trapped more than 200 metres underground took two hours late on Friday as they were hauled up to the surface one by one in a rescue “capsule”, according to China Central Television.
The four were among 29 trapped when the mine collapsed on December 25, but the rescue was marred as a local government official said there had been no contact with 13 other missing miners.
The incident drew comparisons to a 2010 mining accident in Chile, which saw 33 miners rescued after 69 days underground.
“It’s a miracle,” said one person commenting on social media. “I hope they can sit at the dinner table on the eve of the Spring Festival!” the posting said, referring to the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday.
Dramatic footage released by state television showed rescue crews applauding as the men were brought above ground in Shandongprovince.
Of the 29 that were trapped, one has been found dead and 11 were rescued the day after the accident. There has been no *contact with the remaining 13 workers.
“We used life detection equipment to search for them. Unfortunately, we haven’t heard from those 13 missing miners,” Zhang Shuping, the mayor of Linyicity which governs the area, was quoted by CCTV as saying.
The four rescued men were shown being wrapped in military blankets, blindfolded to protect their eyes and put into ambulances. They were named by state media as Zhao Zhicheng, 50, Li Qiusheng, 39, Guan Qingji, 58, and Hua Mingxi, 36.
One of the four miners is hoisted to safety from deep in the mine. Photo: Reuters
“Thanks,” Guan was reported to have said as he was hoisted out clinging to a cable which held him with a series of harnesses strapped to his body.
The four had suffered no major injuries and would soon be able to return home, Xinhua quoted Cao Qingde, deputy head of the local hospital where they were being treated, as saying.
Rescuers first detected signs of life on December 30. The rescue team managed to contact the miners, the broadcaster reported, and send down food, clothes and lamps through a tunnel.
However, complicated geological conditions made the rescue difficult with crews having to account for the structural instability of the tunnel and falling rocks.
Government officials said this marked the mainland’s first rescue of its kind, accomplished by drilling through rock with a large drill head.
“In the rescue history of the People’s Republic of China, this has turned a new page,” Gao Guangwei of the State Administration of Work Safety told state television.
Despite the jubilation over the rescue, some online postings called for accountability.
“Feel so proud of this? Shouldn’t it be time to hold someone accountable?” said one post.
The mine owner committed suicide by drowning himself at the scene soon after the collapse, Xinhua reported previously.
Four officials in Pingyi county, where the mine is located, including the county’s party chief and head of government, were removed from their posts in the wake of the incident.
The gypsum pit and other mines in the area were ordered to stop production in October by local authorities because of a risk of sinkholes, but it kept operating secretly, the Beijing Times reported earlier.
