Chinese miner "drank urine" to survive 11-day ordeal

BEIJING, Friday (Reuters) - A Chinese miner survived 11 days trapped underground by drinking his own urine, state media reported on Friday.

Three neighbouring gypsum mines in northern Hebei province collapsed on Nov. 6, killing at least 33 people. Rescuers had been searching for five missing miners.

Yuan Shenglin's rescue began on Wednesday when miners, about 200 metres (650 ft) underground, heard his voice, the China Daily said.

They inserted a plastic tube through a five-metre heap of collapsed rubble and pumped in food and water to the other side.

"The rescuers did not dare to dig a tunnel immediately for fear of another collapse and took a day to gingerly build a channel from an adjacent mine," the newspaper said.

Yuan, 26, had been in the shaft winch house at the time of the accident and had access to water. The Beijing News quoted him as saying he had also drunk urine to survive.

"I just had one meal there, some steamed bread, and drank a little water," he was quoted as saying.

"In the last few days I had no food. I only made it by drinking urine several times."

Doctors gave Yuan the all clear but described his condition as "feeble".

The other missing workers were all feared dead, it said.

China has the world's most dangerous mining industry, with coal mine accidents claiming 2,700 lives in the first half of this year.