More than 110 alive:
'Miracle' rescue at Chinese mine
Being trapped in a mine with no clean
drinking water or enough air to breathe for 110 workers and surviving in
there for one whole week is truly a miracle. Some clung on to barks of
trees, another strapped himself to the wall with his belt for three days
so that he won't drown and many who didn't sleep and afraid to shut
their eyes in case they will never be able to open them again. The
province of Shanxi is known to be a place with very poor safety records
and where more than 2600 deaths took place last year. To avoid
dehydration they drank from the pit and all the trapped workers got
together in groups using their headlamps to guide the rescue team down
so they could rescue each and everyone of them
Marianne Barriaux Agence France-Presse
More than 110 workers were pulled out alive from a Chinese coal mine
on Monday in what has been hailed as a miracle rescue over a week after
the men were trapped by an underground flood.
Mine workers stand outside the entance to the Wangjialing coal
mine where more than 110 workers were pulled out alive from the
flooded mine being built in northern China’s Shanxi province
|
This frame grab taken from China’s CCTV television shows
rescuers carrying out a survivor |
So far, 115 survivers have been rescued from the mine in China's
coal-mining heartland of Shanxi province, state media said. Some
apparently survived on tree bark and at least one worker strapped
himself to the wall with a belt.
The news from the province of Shanxi, where 153 workers were trapped
when the mine flooded on March 28, was a rare bright spot for an
industry known for its poor safety record and more than 2,600 deaths
recorded last year.
"How fantastic to be on ground again," Xinhua news agency quoted one
27-year-old survivor as saying.
The head of the State Administration of Work Safety, Luo Lin, hailed
what he called "two miracles" more than a week after the accident, which
authorities blamed on lax safety standards at the state-owned
Wangjialing mine.
"The first is that these trapped people have made it through eight
days and eight nights, this is the miracle of life. Secondly our rescue
plan has been effective, this is a miracle in China's search and rescue
history," Luo told china Central Television.
Liu Dezheng, Vice-Director of the Shanxi Work Safety Administration,
said rescuers were still looking for the remaining 38 workers in the
state-owned mine in China's coal-producing heartland.
A rescued miner rests in a sleeper car as he is transferred to
the provincial capital of Taiyuan for treatment in Xiangning
county, in northern China’s Shanxi province |
Rescued miners are loaded onto a train as they are taken to the
provincial capital of Taiyuan for treatment in Xiangning county,
in northern China’s Shanxi province |
Mine workers arrive with supplies to the Wangjialing coal mine
where 115 workers have been pulled out alive from the flooded
mine being built in northern China’s Shanxi province |
State television showed survivors being brought out one after
another, strapped to stretchers and wrapped in blankets. Towels covered
their blackened faces to protect their eyes, light-sensitive after so
long underground.
Groups of rescue workers wearing blue and orange jumpsuits loaded
them into scores of awaiting ambulances, while medical personnel
administered intravenous drips and oxygen.
Provincial Communist party chief Zhang Baoshun said he was told that
most of the survivors were in stable condition and could speak, Xinhua
reported.
Most were rescued from a platform above which rescuers had drilled a
hole last week, ensuring those trapped had oxygen, the report said.
Glucose was also sent down to the workers.
A rescue team captain, Chen Yongsheng, said the workers had survived
on tree bark from pine trees used as supports in the mine under
construction, and drank water from the pit to avoid total dehydration.
"The trapped workers were smart, they gathered together in groups and
rotated the use of their headlamps so that rescuers could see them,"
Chen said, according to the China News Service.
Rescuers used five-seat kayaks to pull them out, he said, according
to Xinhua.
One doctor quoted by the Shanghai Evening Post said a miner had told
him, he had attached himself to the wall with his belt for three nights
to avoid drowning.
He then was able to reach a mining cart floating by him to reach dry
ground.
"I have not slept for several days," black-faced rescuer Wei Fusheng
told state television as he wept with joy. "Our efforts have not been in
vain."
Footage of the rescue scenes in Shanxi, China's coal producing
heartland, played throughout the day on CCTV as the country marked its
annual "grave sweeping day," a national holiday to mourn the dead.
Thousands of people lined the road from the mine, applauding as
ambulances carrying the first survivors rushed past, Xinhua said.
"I have two daughters and a son. I had to do mining work to earn
money for them," said a 45-year-old survivor being treated in hospital.
"Thank you very much."
At least 3,000 rescuers had been racing against time to pump water
out of the mine.
Late Sunday, a team of 100 rescue workers went into the mine and
found the first nine survivors, before a second team was sent in.
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 the mine owner, the
Huajin Coking Coal Company, which failed to heed repeated warnings that
water was building up in the pit days before the disaster.
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.
Last week was disastrous for China's mining sector, with five
separate accidents that killed 37 people and about 70 remain missing.
According to official statistics, 2,631 coal miners were killed last
year in China, or about seven a day.
In the deadliest recent disaster, 172 workers died in a mine flood in
the eastern province of Shandong in August 2007. National Post |