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BEIJING: Sixty-nine workers trapped in a flooded Chinese coalmine
for more than three days were pulled out alive on Wednesday, state
press reported.
The official Xinhua news agency cited local
officials as saying all 69 of the miners had been rescued, some of
whom had to be carried on stretchers to waiting ambulances after
their terrifying ordeal.
Dramatic footage broadcast on state-run
television showed filthy miners stumbling as they emerged from the
mine wearing blindfolds to give their eyes time to adjust to
daylight.
Eager officials rushed to shake their hands,
while a banner was erected at the pit issuing congratulations for
the rescue efforts.
The Zhijian mine in China’s central Henan
province flooded on Sunday morning with 102 workers underground.
Thirty-three miners escaped but the other 69 were trapped in a
section of 600 meters (yards) of tunnels that were submerged.
China’s coalmine industry is regarded as the
most dangerous in the world.
More than 4,700 workers were killed last year,
according to official figures, although independent labor groups put
the real death toll at up to 20,000 annually, with many accidents
covered-up.
--AFP
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