Miners survive week trapped in a flooded underground hell
By Staff Reporter |
April 5, 2010, Monday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THE whole nation has, at the very least, nine exceptional reasons to celebrate today.
In the early hours of this morning in north China's Shanxi Province, the first nine survivors of 153 workers trapped underground in a flooded coal mine were brought to the surface by rescuers.
They had been trapped for an incredible 179 hours and China Central Television provided dramatic coverage of them being brought to the surface on stretchers to rousing cheers.
The survivors' faces were covered to protect their eyes from the glare of TV cameras and photographers' flashes after being in the dark for more than a week.
From Friday, when the first faint tap was heard on a pipe sunk as part of rescue efforts, people around the nation dared to hope.
The nine were immediately taken away by ambulances to a hospital about 40 minutes' drive from the mine, with four of them reported to have "normal vital signs."
And this may be just the start of the good news.
When Shanghai Daily went to press, rescuers told CCTV that there was a good chance there were more survivors.
A video camera was earlier lowered into the mine but produced only fuzzy images.
The mine straddles Xiangning County, of Linfen City, and Hejin, a county-level city within Yuncheng City.
The water level had dropped by 10.2 meters as of noon yesterday, rescuers said.
More than 2,500 cubic meters were being pumped out each hour but the water level needed to drop further before the rescuers could go in to seek survivors, Xinhua news agency reported.
An investigating team that entered the flooded mine on Saturday and early yesterday said the situation was "very complicated and the gas intensity is fluctuating."
There seemed to be more water in the shaft than expected, indicating there was less room for the trapped miners to evade the flood, an official told Xinhua.
The 153 workers are believed to be trapped on nine platforms in the mine, which was flooded with enough water to fill more than 55 Olympic swimming pools.
Rescuers said four of the platforms were not totally submerged.
The concave ground in the mine would also gather water so rescuers would be blocked on the way to some sites where other miners might havesurvived, the official said.
The area around the shaft gate was cleared of all debris before the rescue team entered the unknown.
A total of 153 ambulances were on standby, 73 of them parked at the shaft entrance.
Five hospitals closest to the site and another four in Taiyuan, the provincial capital, had extra staff on hand to receive survivors.
More than 360 bags of glucose were sent down the 250-meter coal mine since banging was heard from below on Friday.
About 3,000 people have been working around the clock to pump out water since the flood happened on March 28.
Rescuers said the flooding took place when workers digging broke through into an old shaft filled with water.
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 tons of coal annually once in operation.
In the early hours of this morning in north China's Shanxi Province, the first nine survivors of 153 workers trapped underground in a flooded coal mine were brought to the surface by rescuers.
They had been trapped for an incredible 179 hours and China Central Television provided dramatic coverage of them being brought to the surface on stretchers to rousing cheers.
The survivors' faces were covered to protect their eyes from the glare of TV cameras and photographers' flashes after being in the dark for more than a week.
From Friday, when the first faint tap was heard on a pipe sunk as part of rescue efforts, people around the nation dared to hope.
The nine were immediately taken away by ambulances to a hospital about 40 minutes' drive from the mine, with four of them reported to have "normal vital signs."
And this may be just the start of the good news.
When Shanghai Daily went to press, rescuers told CCTV that there was a good chance there were more survivors.
A video camera was earlier lowered into the mine but produced only fuzzy images.
The mine straddles Xiangning County, of Linfen City, and Hejin, a county-level city within Yuncheng City.
The water level had dropped by 10.2 meters as of noon yesterday, rescuers said.
More than 2,500 cubic meters were being pumped out each hour but the water level needed to drop further before the rescuers could go in to seek survivors, Xinhua news agency reported.
An investigating team that entered the flooded mine on Saturday and early yesterday said the situation was "very complicated and the gas intensity is fluctuating."
There seemed to be more water in the shaft than expected, indicating there was less room for the trapped miners to evade the flood, an official told Xinhua.
The 153 workers are believed to be trapped on nine platforms in the mine, which was flooded with enough water to fill more than 55 Olympic swimming pools.
Rescuers said four of the platforms were not totally submerged.
The concave ground in the mine would also gather water so rescuers would be blocked on the way to some sites where other miners might havesurvived, the official said.
The area around the shaft gate was cleared of all debris before the rescue team entered the unknown.
A total of 153 ambulances were on standby, 73 of them parked at the shaft entrance.
Five hospitals closest to the site and another four in Taiyuan, the provincial capital, had extra staff on hand to receive survivors.
More than 360 bags of glucose were sent down the 250-meter coal mine since banging was heard from below on Friday.
About 3,000 people have been working around the clock to pump out water since the flood happened on March 28.
Rescuers said the flooding took place when workers digging broke through into an old shaft filled with water.
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 tons of coal annually once in operation.
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