BEIJING – Chinese rescuers drilled several fresh holes today to reach at least 12 gold miners trapped underground for nine days, as dwindling food supplies and rising waters threaten their survival.
Twenty-two workers are stuck 540m underground at the Hushan mine near Yantai in Shandong province after an explosion damaged the entrance.
After days without any signs of life, some of the trapped miners managed to send up a note attached to a metal wire, which rescuers had dropped into the mine on Sunday.
Pleading for help, the handwritten message said a dozen of them are alive, but surrounded by water and in need of urgent medical supplies.
The note also said several of the miners are injured.
A subsequent phone call with the miners revealed 11 are in one location 540m below the surface, with another – apparently alone – trapped a further 100m down.
The whereabouts and conditions of the other 10 miners are still unknown.
Rescuers have already dug three channels, and sent food, medicine, paper and pencils down thin shafts – lifelines to the miners cut into the earth.
But progress has been slow, according to Chen Fei, a top city official.
“The surrounding rock near the ore body is mostly granite... that is very hard, resulting in the slow progress of rescue.
“There is a lot of water in the shaft that may flow into the man-way and pose a danger to the trapped workers.”
Chen said the current food supply is enough for only two days.
Rescuers drilled three more channels yesterday, according to a rescue map published on the Yantai government’s official twitter-like Weibo account.
A telephone connection has also been set up.
Footage from state broadcaster CCTV shows dozens of rescuers clearing the main return shaft, while cranes and a massive bore-hole drill are seen digging new rescue channels to reach the miners.
Citing provincial authorities, China Youth daily reported that rescue teams lost precious time since it took more than a day for the accident to be reported.
Both the local Communist Party secretary and mayor have been sacked over the 30-hour delay, and an official investigation is under way to determine the cause of the explosion.
Mining accidents are common in China, where the industry has a poor safety record, and regulations are often weakly enforced.
In December last year, 23 workers died after being stuck underground in the south-western city of Chongqing, just months after 16 others died from carbon monoxide poisoning after being trapped underground at another coal mine in the city. – AFP, January 19, 2021
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