Chinese rescuers today pulled five bodies from a flooded coal mine a day after the rescue of 115 fellow miners who survived a week underground.
Officials said 153 miners were trapped in the unfinished Wangjialing mine in Xiangning, in the northern province of Shanxi, when water gushed in more than a week ago.
At least 115 survivors were rescued late on Sunday and yesterday, with media and officials hailing a "miracle" that came on a national holiday to honour the dead. The five bodies are the first known casualties, but 33 men are still missing.
The survivors clung on to life in the pitch black pit, eating sawdust and bark from the pine supports used in the mine to sustain themselves and some taking small sips of the dank and dirty water that surrounded them.
Rescuers braved the floodwaters and fluctuating mine gas once officials deemed a week of frantic pumping had lowered water levels enough to make a rescue possible. Tapping sounds on a pipe on Friday had raised hopes some miners were still alive.
"We reached 200 metres underground by raft only to find that there was not enough space for the raft to continue as the water level was too high. So we jumped into the water, swam towards the trapped miners, and pulled them out," said rescuer Wang Kai.
It was rare good news for China's perilous coal mining industry, the deadliest in the world with thousands killed every year in floods, explosions, collapses and other accidents. Shanxi province is the heartland of the coal industry.
Survivors were brought out from a platform, where rescuers had drilled a vertical hole last week. The hole ensured oxygen in the water-flooded pit while rescuers sent down bags of glucose.
Most of the rescued miners were in a stable condition, but suffering from malnutrition, dehydration and skin infections, and 26 were in a "relatively serious" condition, the official Xinhua news agency said.
The number of people killed in Chinese coal mines dropped to 2,631 in 2009, an average of seven a day, from 3,215 in 2008, according to official statistics. China has ordered the consolidation or takeover of many private mines. It says the shutdown of many of the most dangerous private operations has helped cut accidents.
Reuters