Miracle in the mine: 22 rescued after seven days

Three miners missing, rescue efforts continue

BOLI, Heilongjiang - Twenty-two of the trapped miners in a flooded mine in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province were rescued as of early Tuesday morning, Xu Guangguo, vice-governor of the province, said.

The rescuers are still searching for the three missing miners, Xu was quoted by the Xinhua News Agency. One died after he was rescued.

Footage from China Central Television showed the men being brought slowly to the surface Tuesday with all apparently in good condition.

Hopes for the miners revived Sunday after noises were detected through a 280-meter pipe that was drilled to allow fresh air into the illegal mine near the northeastern city of Qitaihe.

About 160 rescuers take turns to search the mine for signs of life. "We search wherever we can go," one of them said.

The miners were trapped on Aug 23 when an adjacent and flooded mine was accidentally drilled into.

Three men, ranging in age from 37 to 41, were saved on Saturday night and remain in a stable condition in hospital. A body was retrieved from the mine on Sunday.

Hopes were raised on Sunday night when one of two emergency drills reached a level 277 meters underground where the miners might have been able to take shelter.

As fresh air was pumped in, rescuers said they heard knocking sounds on the pipe at 1:20 am on Monday.

"The sounds responded to other sounds", a rescuer said. "When we knocked, knocks were heard in response."

Experts confirmed that the sounds were signs of life at about 3 am, China National Radio reported. Then the first supply capsule was delivered at 6:50 am on Monday after rescuers withdrew the drilling pipe and placed a tube.

However, one hour later, when rescuers brought the capsule back up the tube, it was untouched. The second capsule was also untouched at noon on Monday.

China Central Television reported on-site experts saying miners may not be able to reach the capsules because of exhaustion or because they may have left the area when they realized that the water level was going down.

This was the second round of drilling. The first round, finished by Friday at depths of 280 meters, did not find any probable areas of shelter.

Rescuers also attempted to lower a camera into the mine but the sludge-like conditions prevented it working properly.

Wang Zhefei, a doctor in Beijing, said people could survive for weeks with water.

Although safety improvements have cut annual fatalities by about one-third from a high of 6,995 in 2002, accidents in coal mines remain a big problem for the country.