6 miners rescued after 6-day ordeal
Print Edition
SIX workers were rescued yesterday morning after they had been trapped for more than six days in a flooded coal mine in northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province, local authorities said.
The six were lifted to the surface about 5:30am, said the emergency rescue headquarters at Xuxiang Colliery in Hegang City. Floodwater inundated the pit around 5pm on July 20, trapping a total of 15 miners.
Four have been confirmed dead so far, and rescuers are racing to find another five workers still trapped.
The six rescued yesterday are in a stable condition and have no major injuries, said Wang Falun, vice president of the Hegang People’s Hospital.
However, their feet were submerged in cold water for days and will require four to five days to recover, he said.
Wu Chuanyong, 49, was one of the six rescued yesterday.
“We suddenly heard a big boom and then a large amount of silt and water poured in from the upper part of the shaft,” Wu said.
Mud up to 50 centimeters deep buried all the tools in the mine, said Wu, who is still weak and receiving treatment at the hospital.
“We had difficulty breathing as the ventilation exit was also totally blocked by debris when the flooding occurred,” he said. He and the other five dug at the debris by hand to let air in from a ventilation pipe that was still working.
Shortly after the accident, they managed to let air in and started planning their survival.
The miners each took a small drink of water from the bucket they carried when entering the mine, and they only used one of their safety headlamps to save batteries.
They felt hope four days later, when they heard a knocking sound from the rescue drill. Soon after that, they received milk through the drill hole.
Wu said he tried to keep his colleagues’ spirits up and assured them they would be rescued and yesterday they finally saw their rescuers.
Previously, some of the men had become seriously depressed and one even considered leaving a note in case he died.
“When we first saw them, they had not recovered from their fear and nervousness,” Wang said. “But after intervention by psychologists, they gradually calmed down.”
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