In China’s Shandong Province, rescuers have retrieved ten bodies of miners trapped underground due to a blast in a gold mine. Twenty-two miners were trapped underground due to the mine blast on 10th January in Qixia, under the city of Yantai. Eleven miners were rescued on Sunday after being trapped for two weeks, and one was still missing, according to a press briefing on Monday. 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 work to take a big step forward, after which the rescuers brought up 11 miners.
State media reported quoting a local official, some of the miners starved to death, and some died from injuries from the explosion. The under-construction gold mine suffered two blasts on 10th January, accompanied by thick smoke and strong tremors causing severe damage to the underground facilities and greater difficulties for clearing work, said Chen Yumin, who is leading the rescue team. He informed that the 11 rescued miners are receiving appropriate medical treatment, and DNA tests are being conducted to confirm the identities of the deceased.
The cause of the accident is under investigation. Authorities have detained mine managers for delaying reporting the accident and two government officials were dismissed from their posts for dereliction of duty.
In another incident on Monday morning, Eight people were injured and three others missing in an explosion of a natural gas pipe on Monday in Dalian, a port city in northeast China’s Liaoning Province, state media reported citing local authorities. The injured have been rushed to hospital. The fire has been put out, and an initial investigation found that the explosion was caused by a leakage of the natural gas pipeline.