Nine Trapped Chinese Miners Confirmed Dead, One Still Missing

By Staff, Agencies

Nine more Chinese miners who have been trapped underground for over two weeks were confirmed dead, local government officials said Monday, leaving one unaccounted for after a blast at the site.

A group of 22 miners were trapped hundreds of meters underground by an explosion at the Hushan mine in eastern Shandong province on January 10, with some relying on food and medicine delivered through long shafts drilled by rescue teams.

Eleven survivors were finally brought to the surface on Sunday in a major breakthrough for a rescue operation that has captivated the nation.

"From Sunday afternoon to this afternoon, rescue workers have not stopped searching, and found a further nine trapped miners who unfortunately all died," the mayor of Yantai city, Chen Fei, said at a briefing Monday.

"Along with one miner who died on Thursday, the bodies of the nine deceased miners were all lifted out of the mine."

Rescue teams will not stop searching until the last remaining miner is found, Chen said, adding that high underground water levels in a section of the mine had complicated rescue operations.

The initial explosion occurred in the mine's ventilator shaft, causing a blockage that damaged the cable car.