Miners rescued alive after 8 days in pit

THREE coal mine workers were rescued early yesterday morning after being trapped underground for more than eight days in northwestern China's Shaanxi Province.

Rescuers pulled the three men to the ground from the pit of a coal mine in Shenmu County about 3:30am.

Medical staff immediately wrapped them up with thick coats and rushed them to hospital. Rescuers said the miners were in stable condition after medical checks.

The three men - team leader Wang Shibin and drivers Shi Xingrong and Zhang Meijun - had been stranded in the Yongxing Gaozhuang Coal Mine since a shaft collapsed on October 17.

Among the 27 workers in the shaft at the time of the accident, 24 managed to escape.

The three found an area with good ventilation and clean water for drinking, which helped them to keep alive for six days until rescuers managed to drill a channel to deliver food and drinking water to them last Thursday.

Rescuers tried different ways to dig a tunnel amid complex geological structure and finally reached the trapped miners yesterday.

Yu Mei, the wife of Zhang who began work in the mine a month ago, said she felt the sky had collapsed when she heard about the accident.

"Thank God he's still alive," Yu said.

"Saving the trapped miners was the most pressing task for the government. Now we'll focus on finding out the cause of the accident," said Li Yuqing, an official with the Shaanxi Provincial Coal Mine Safety Supervision Administration.

The privately owned mine has all necessary business licenses.

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