Eleven workers trapped in a Chinese gold mine for two weeks were safely brought to the surface on Sunday, a milestone for an industry long ravaged by disasters and high death tolls.
State broadcaster CCTV showed that on Sunday afternoon workers were picked up one by one in baskets, their eyes shielded to protect them after so many days in the dark.
Some brought their hands together gratefully, and many seemed almost too weak to get up. They were quickly covered in coats in freezing temperatures and loaded into ambulances.
Hundreds of rescue workers and officials stood at attention and applauded as the workers were brought up from the mine in Qixia, a jurisdiction under Yantai in the eastern coastal province of Shandong.
cnsphoto via REUTERS
An employee is said to have died of a head injury after the explosion that dumped massive amounts of debris into the shaft on January 10 while the mine was still under construction.
The fate of 10 others who were underground at the time is unknown. Authorities have arrested mine managers for delaying reporting the accident.
The cause of the accident is currently under investigation, but the explosion was large enough to release 70 tons of debris that blocked the shaft, rendered elevators inoperable and trapped workers underground.
Rescuers drilled parallel shafts to send food and nutrients down and eventually retrieve the survivors, 10 of whom had been in a lower room and one in a separate area slightly closer to the surface.
The official China Daily newspaper said on its website that seven of the workers could walk to the ambulances on their own.
Such lengthy and costly rescue efforts are relatively new in China’s mining industry, which used to kill an average of 5,000 a year. Tighter surveillance has improved safety, although the demand for coal and precious metals is still leading to cutting corners. After two accidents last year in the mountainous southwest of Chongqing, a new crackdown was ordered after 39 miners were killed.