(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-10-01 21:22

LANZHOU -- The eight workers who were trapped in a collapsed rail tunnel under construction in northwest China have been rescued and sent to hospital for treatment, local work safety authorities said on Monday.

The eight people were buried under debris from a collapse of the Bapanxia tunnel in Yongjing County, Gansu Province, on the second electrified railway linking Lanzhou, capital of Gansu, to Xining, capital of neighboring Qinghai province, said Wu Hong, a local work safety official.

All of them have been rescued by 5 pm Monday, said Wu, who did not give details about their injuries.

The cause of the collapse is being investigated, Wu said.

The planned 169.9-km-long railway began construction in 2005 and is expected to complete this year. It will be linked to the Qinghai-Tibet railway, the most elevated rail route in the world which started operation in July 2006.