9 rescued after 179 hrs in flooded mine

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-04-05 08:40
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A survivor is rushed to an ambulance by rescuers after being lifted out of the shaft of the flooded Wangjialing coal mine in north China's Shanxi Province early Monday morning, April 5, 2010. [Photo/Xinhua]
XIANGNING, Shanxi: Nine miners trapped under the flooded Wangjialing coal mine in north China's Shanxi Province were taken out of the shaft Monday morning miraculously to safety, after 179 hours underground.
The survivors were immediately sent to a nearby hospital for medical treatment. Their blood pressure and heart rates remained normal after having being trapped in the shaft for one week.
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The workers are Mao Xiaoyong, Jin Qunhong, Zhang Chuangye, Hu Qianhai, Li Guoyu, Meng Xiaobing, Shi Fenglei, Zhang Xiaobo and Zhao Xinquan. All of them maintained stable health conditions and lucid mind, capable of telling who they are and where they are from.
One of the survivors, named Li Guoyu, 38, had a lucid mind and told doctors that he comes from central China's Henan Province.
Li said they had been unable to pass urine for two days, because they dared not drink the murky water flowing in the tunnel.
A total of 144 other fellow miners remain trapped, but rescue workers heard banging on the metal pipe, indicating further signs of life.
Thousands of people kept standing along the road at midnight and burst into applause when the ambulances carrying the survivors passed by.
"I would be more than happy to see whoever is brought out of the mine,even if he is not my father," said a young man waiting for his family member to return to safety.

A survivor is rushed to an ambulance by rescuers after being lifted out of the shaft of the flooded Wangjialing coal mine in north China's Shanxi Province early Monday morning, April 5, 2010. [Photo/Xinhua]
Luo Lin, head of the State Administration of Work Safety, read a telegraph of Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang on the rescue site. In the letter, Zhang expressed sympathy to the survivors on behalf of Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao and ordered rescue workers "to race against time and go all out to continue the rescue work."
Hu and Wen has also warned against the occurrence of secondary disasters in and around the mine covering about 180 square kilometers, which straddles Xiangning County, of Linfen City, and Hejin, a county-level city within Yuncheng City.
Underground water gushed into the pit of the under-construction Wangjialing coal mine at about 1:40 pm last Sunday. Altogether 261 miners were working underground, and only 108 were lifted to safety.
More than360bags of glucose were sent down the 250-meter coal mine after rescuers heard knocking on the metal pipe Friday.
An investigating team entered the mine Saturday and early Sunday, but reported back the situation was very complicated and the gas intensity was fluctuating.
The rescue headquarters planned to launch the rescue operation Sunday noon, but the plan was postponed due to the complexity underground.
Over the past week, about 3,000 rescuers and 300 experts have been mobilized for rescue work. Fourteen pumps had been pumping out water of 140,000 cubic meters for the past six days, with an average speed of 2,500 cubic meters per hour. However, the concave ground would gather water, making an obstacle for the rescue workers. It is still not clear when the water would be drained up.
The mine, affiliated to the state-owned Huajin Coking Coal Co. Ltd., is a major project approved by the provincial government. It is expected to produce 6 million tonnes of coal annually once in operation.
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