Twenty-nine miners trapped in a flooded coal mine in southwest China's Sichuan Province for over 24 hours were successfully rescued Monday.
Water inundated the Batian Coal Mine in Weiyuan County at 11 a.m. Sunday when 35 miners were working underground. Thirteen of the miners managed to escape by themselves while 22 were trapped.
After the flooding, led by deputy mine manager Zhang Hongliang, seven entered the mine in an attempt to rescue the 22 miners. But the rescue mission failed and they themselves became trapped.
After pumping water out of the mine, a second group of rescuers entered the mine Monday afternoon and successfully rescued all 29 trapped miners.
The rescued miners displayed no signs of injury but appeared weak. They were immediately taken to the No. 2 Hospital in Neijiang City and the People's Hospital in Weiyuan County.
A member of the rescue team said on a live CCTV broadcast the water in the mine came up to his neck.
"The miners were nervous and excited. I told them they were safe," the unidentified rescuer said. "I am so happy we rescued all the miners."
Rescuers pulled the first miner out at about 12:25 p.m. local time. Deputy mine manager Zhang Hongliang, the last to be rescued, was pulled out at around 1:18 p.m.
"All the rescued miners will receive the best medical treatment in the hospitals," said Li Chengyun, deputy governor of Sichuan Province, who was at the scene with other government officials to guide the rescue work.
