9 men were trapped in flooded coal mine; TV station says more could be alive.
By ASSOCIATED PRESSchinese police mine 311(photo credit: AP)
XIANGNING, China — Nine trapped miners were pulled to safety early Monday after spending more than a week trapped in a flooded coal mine in northern China.The nine men — among 153 trapped since March 28 — were wrapped in blankets, placed in ambulances and rushed to a hospital where teams of doctors and nurses had been standing by for several days.China Central Television said more people in the Wangjialing mine could still be alive.It showed images of several miners being taken into the hospital in Hejin city, about 40 minutes from the mine. Their eyes were covered to shield them from the bright lights. Some were hooked up to intravenous drips.The nine had been trapped since workers broke a wall into a water-filled abandoned shaft, flooding the mine in Shanxi province in northern China. About 3,000 people have worked around the clock since then to pump out the water.A glimmer of hope emerged Friday when rescuers heard knocking on a pipe that had been drilled into the mine. But no sounds were heard after that as workers frantically pumped water out and sent divers into the mine to scout conditions.Finally, at 40 minutes past midnight Monday the first survivor was brought to the surface. A crowd of people outside the entrance of the mine shaft clapped as the miners were carried out.Reporters who did not belong to state media were prevented from getting close to the site.It was not immediately known if there were any other survivors, but theofficial Xinhua News Agency reported that swaying lamp lights were seenat the other side of a V-shaped shaft in the mine.It said the bottom of the V-shaped shaft had emerged as the water level fell.
A preliminary investigation found that the mine's managers ignoredwater leaks before the accident, the State Administration of WorkSafety said.China's coal mines are the world's deadliest. Accidents killed 2,631coal miners in China last year, down from 6,995 deaths in 2002, themost dangerous year on record, according to the State Administration ofCoal Mine Safety.
