Rescuers at a collapsed mine in eastern China have found eight survivors that had been trapped underground for five days, state media reported Wednesday.
Television footage from state broadcaster CCTV showed rescue workers speaking via an intercom system to the miners, who were trapped 220 meters (720 feet) below the surface after the gypsum mine collapsed in Shandong province.
By drilling a relief hole, rescuers have delivered food and provisions to the miners, who hadn’t eaten for five days.
Infrared cameras caught the survivors, who had been trapped in complete darkness, waving their hands, state media said.
However, getting them out is likely to prove difficult.
“Underground, there is limestone, shale, sandstone, karst caves, and seeping water. The terrain there is changing constantly. This makes rescue operations more difficult,” Ma Kun, mayor of Linyi, a city in Pingyi county, said before the survivors were found.
The mine collapsed on Christmas Day while 29 people were working inside, killing at least one worker. Nine people are still missing.
Suicide
The owner of the mine, Ma Congbo, chief executive of Yurong Trade Company committed suicide on Sunday by jumping into a mine well.
Four county-level officials were also sacked on Tuesday, according to Xinhua.
The Beijing Youth Daily reported that the collapse of the mine owned by Ma’s company was caused by abandoned gypsum mines nearby. Gypsum is a mineral used to make fertilizer, chalk and other materials.
When the mine collapsed Friday morning, China Earthquake Networks Center initially reported that a magnitude-4.0 earthquake had hit Pingyi county. The center soon clarified that the quake had actually been caused by the mine collapse.
The mine collapse occurred the same week as a massive pile of construction waste collapsed and buried buildings and homes in Shenzhen. More than 70 people are still missing a week after the landslide.