In a miraculous rescue mission, four workers lifted out 36 days after gypsum mine collapse

Four miners were rescued on Friday after being trapped over 200 meters underground for 36 days after a tunnel collapse in a gypsum mine in Shandong province.

The first trapped miner was lifted out at about 9:20 pm through a tunnel dug by the rescue team in the past month.

All four were reportedly in stable condition and quickly sent to a hospital in ambulances waiting nearby. They have been placed under observation in an intensive care ward.

A total of 29 people were underground when the collapse occurred at the mine in Shandong's Pingyi county on Dec 25. Eleven escaped in the first two days, and one person died. Thirteen people remain missing.

Rescuers drilled seven channels to reach the trapped miners and established contact with the four on the sixth day after the collapse.

Life detection equipment, telephones, food and water were lowered down to the tunnel.

Rescue crews spoke by telephone with the four every day, and medical professionals, including psychologists, spoke with them twice a day, encouraging them to stay calm and hopeful.

In order to keep them optimistic, rescuers showed them the process of rescue by dropping down smartphones with photos of the work.

Playing cards were also sent down, according to the rescue command center in Pingyi.

The command center said the four workers dug themselves a living space of 6 to 8 square meters.

The rescue effort was hampered by concerns about cave-ins and other geological hazards, said Zhang Hongkun, one of the rescuers.

Experts on the rescue team come from seven coal mines in Shandong, and had been working for more than a month in extreme cold sweeping the area.

On the coldest days, the temperature dropped to-22 C.

Meng Qingjun, a 43-year-old driller, said more than 30 rescuers had been living in tents and had had very little rest during the round-the-clock effort. "I didn't change my clothes for two weeks, and once woke up seven times in a night to check on the drilling process," he said. "We were racing against time."

Peng Yining in Beijing contributed to this story.

Contact the writers at zhaoruixue@chinadaily.com.cn