Rescuers send food to miners in fortnight trap in China

Rescuers have managed to send more food, water and life detection equipment to four miners who have been trapped in a gypsum mine after an accident two weeks ago.

A total of 29 people were underground when a collapse occurred at a gypsum mine in Pingyi County, Shandong Province, on Dec. 25. Eleven people escaped and one died. Seventeen people are still trapped.

So far, rescuers have drilled seven channels to try to reach and rescue the trapped miners. Gao Guangwei, deputy director of the Emergency Command Center of the State Administration of Work Safety, said they had dug the seventh tunnel on Friday.

Life detection equipment, food and water were dropped down the tunnel to the four miners. Images sent back through the life detection equipment showed them to be in a stable condition, said Gao.

Rescuers had been in touch with the four miners through the second tunnel, but rising water had begun to seep into the area, meaning more tunnels had to be dug.

• Doctors are speaking to the miners twice a day.

• No other survivors have been found. A wider access tunnel to help the miners escape is being drilled.

Rescue efforts have been hampered by concerns over cave-ins and other geological hazards, said Zhang Dongliang, one of the drillers.

Ma Congbo, owner of the mine and board director of Yurong Trade Co., committed suicide by jumping into a flooded shaft during the rescue.

Ping County's Communist Party of China chief, the local government head and two deputy heads were sacked following the accident. Several of the company's executives are under investigation.
 Xinhua - globaltimes.cn
8/1/16
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Related:

• Rescuers struggle to reach trapped miners in E China. (17 remain trapped or missing)

• China: 8 trapped miners still alive 5 days after mine collapse