Beijing – It will soon be the tenth day of a painstakingly slow rescue operation in eastern China’s Shandong province. State media say 22 workers were trapped more than 2,000 feet deep after an explosion damaged the gold mine access shaft on January 10.
Rescue efforts have since moved on, with workers drilling a series of small deep holes in the ground to reach trapped miners. So far, they have shipped at least three rounds of food and medicine.
It also allowed rescue workers to communicate with the arrested men – first through handwritten notes and now over a telephone line. After one urgent, initial medication order and painkillers, the miners on Tuesday asked to send porridges and pickles.
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A note released on Sunday confirmed that 12 miners were alive at the time – 11 of them together, but one was about 50 meters below the group. They said they were suffering from toxic gases and rising water levels.
The fate of the other 10 miners was not yet clear on Tuesday. Rescuers hit the drill pipe leading to them on Monday, but there was no response.
The wells work for food and medicine, but are only about a foot wide, so they do not help bring the trapped miners back to the surface.
Larger rescue pits are being drilled, but as of Tuesday the main well remained the only way in or out, and officials said the stability of that passage has yet to be verified.
Xinhua / Wang Kai / Getty