Mine rescue in China: survivors must remain in prison for at least two more weeks

Chinese rescue workers say it could take more than two weeks before they can rescue a group of miners trapped hundreds of meters deep.

They have been stuck since an explosion closed the entrance tunnel to the Hushan gold mine in Shandong province on 10 January.

Authorities made contact with 11 surviving miners a week after the explosion, but one has since died.

Rescuers drilled small holes to provide food and medicine to the men.

The cause of the explosion that sealed the mine’s entrance is still unknown.

The fate of 11 other miners trapped by the blast is unclear – the authorities were unable to communicate with them, despite downloading food and messages in other areas of the mine.

The live discovered group told rescue workers that they had communicated with a lone miner about 100 m below them, but have since lost contact with him.

Rescue operations are currently trying to widen a narrow well to make it large enough to remove miners.

However, drilling is proving difficult as it needs to pass through particularly hard granite and the miners are trapped away from the surface. Rescuers face an additional problem as the mine is flooded and there is a risk of flooding the chamber where the miners are trapped.

“The obstacles are too huge, which means that we need at least another 15 days or more to reach the miners,” said Gong Haitao, deputy head of the local advertising department.

The wreckage on the way weighs around 70 tons, he added.

The entrance to the mine was severely damaged and communication was cut off by the unexplained explosion so far.

For a week, there was no sign of life. Then, last Sunday, the rescuers felt a tug on one of the ropes that were going down in small pits that went down into the darkness.

A paper note was then sent by a rope from a group of 12 surviving miners – 11 stuck in one place and 12 stuck below.

Since then, contact with the 12th miner has been lost, while one of the 11, who fell into a coma after suffering a head injury in the explosion, was confirmed dead on Thursday.

Mining accidents are not uncommon in China, where industry safety regulations can be misapplied. In December last year, 23 miners died after a carbon monoxide leak at a coal mine.

In September, 16 workers were killed at another mine outside Chongqing, also due to carbon monoxide. In December 2019, an explosion at a coal mine in southwest China’s Guizhou province killed at least 14 people.

The group of 10 known survivors is trapped in the dark about 600 m (2,000 feet) deep. They are in regular contact with the rescue teams.

A line of communication has been established and food and medicine can be downloaded to them through a narrow tube.

While receiving porridges and nutritious liquids, the miners asked for a traditional sausage meal a few days ago.

Eight of them are thought to be well, while two have health problems.