By Xinhua
Shanxian (China) : All 69 miners trapped in a flooded coal mine in central China's Henan province for more than three days were rescued Wednesday afternoon.
The first miner to come out of the shaft was identified as Nan Jianning, who was greeted with applause by a large crowd that had been waiting anxiously.
Most of the miners were so weak that they could walk only with the support of medical workers or had to be carried on stretchers. They were taken to hospitals nearby.
The flooding occurred at around 8:40 a.m. Sunday at the Zhijian coal mine in Shanxian county, about 200 km west of Zhengzhou, capital of Henan, when 102 miners were working underground. Thirty-three managed to escape.
Rescuers said ventilation and communication facilities remained undamaged.
"The supply of milk through the ventilation pipe and availability of a fixed telephone line helped the trapped miners preserve their physical strength and keep their spirits up," said a rescuer.
Rescuers poured 382 litres of milk into the 800-meter ventilation pipe at around 9 p.m. Monday, followed by another 167 litres Tuesday morning, to feed the miners who used their helmets to catch the milk, their only source of food for 76 hours.
Some 4,000 cubic metres of water poured into the shaft when a flood triggered by rainstorms swamped the mine. Rescuers pumped about 2,000 cubic metres of water out of the mine and cleared about 100 cubic metres of mud in the shaft.
Hundreds of rescuers, including 300 policemen, struggled to prevent more water from entering the shaft, clearing away the silt, and providing ventilation and oxygen to the trapped miners.
The state-owned coal mine was established in 1958 with an output capacity for 210,000 tonnes. It was designed for a capacity to mine 210,000 tonnes a year, but its actual annual output is 300,000 tonnes.
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