10 dead, one still missing in China’s gold mine blast

Beijing/Jinan: China’s rescue workers searching for the miners trapped underground for two weeks after a blast at a gold mine in Shandong province have found 10 bodies, officials said on Monday.

On Sunday, 11 miners who were trapped underground for two weeks were rescued. One trapped miner is still missing and search efforts for him are underway.

Twenty-two miners were trapped underground in the partially built gold mine in the city of Qixia, since the explosion blocked their exit on January 10.

Eleven miners were rescued on Sunday after being trapped for two weeks. After bringing back 11 miners, rescuers went down into the goldmine and saw the bodies of 10 miners.

Rescuers have retrieved 10 bodies of miners trapped underground due to the blast in the gold mine, state-run Xinhua news agency reported, citing officials in Jinan, capital of Shandong province.

All have lost signs of life, chief on-site rescue expert Du Bingjian told the state-run Global Times.

Judging by the bodies, some of the miners starved to death, and some died from injuries from the explosion, Du said.

One trapped miner is still missing and search efforts are underway.

Previously, clearance work had encountered great difficulties, but on Sunday morning, a huge obstacle blocking the well suddenly fell to the bottom of the shaft, allowing rescue workers to take a big step forward, after which the rescuers brought up 11 miners.

As the obstacles were cleared, rescuers were allowed to go down into the goldmine to the Sixth Central Section, where it was believed the other miners were located.

The body of one miner was found in the sixth Central Section. Eight miners were found in the third and the fourth central section, which were closer to the ground, the Global Times report said.

The goldmine explosion took place on January 10, but the accident was only reported to the local authorities 30 hours later.

Top rescue teams and equipment were quickly summoned to the city for all-out rescue efforts, which has been going on for 14 days.

”We will not stop searching for the missing miner,” said Chen Fei, mayor of Yantai. He said that the rescue work is extremely difficult as the underground water is very deep.

According to Chen, the 11 rescued miners are receiving proper medical treatment, and DNA tests are being conducted to confirm the identities of the deceased.

The investigation into the cause of the accident is still in progress, Xinhua report said.