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XIANGNING, China: Thousands of rescuers were Tuesday searching for 38 workers still trapped in a flooded coal mine in northern China one day after 115 others were saved in a dramatic operation.
Workers installed pumps and drainage equipment as teams of nurses waited in the northern province of Shanxi for more workers to be pulled from the massive Wangjialing mine, which flooded on March 28 during construction work.
President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao have urged all-out efforts to save the men still trapped.
On Monday, officials and rescuers wept with joy as the 115 workers were extracted one by one from the pit -- a bit of good news for an industry plagued by deadly accidents, with more than 2,600 fatalities recorded last year.
Most of the survivors were said to be in stable condition, but 26 were described as being in "relatively serious" condition after their ordeal, Xinhua news agency quoted rescue teams and doctors as saying.
"After a long time in the water, many of the survivors have partially ulcerated skin," one doctor was quoted in the China Daily as saying.
The men were also reportedly suffering from severe dehydration and malnutrition. During their eight days underground, they apparently survived on tree bark, sawdust and dirty water from the pit.
One survivor told his physician that he stayed alive for three nights by strapping himself to the shaft wall with his belt, as he feared drowning. On the fourth day, he was able to climb into a mining cart with eight other men.
The accident occurred when workers apparently dug into an older adjacent mine that had been shut down and filled with water, press reports have said.
The national work safety watchdog blamed the accident on the owner, the Huajin Coking Coal Company, which failed to heed repeated warnings that water was building up days before the disaster.
Safety is often ignored in China's collieries in the quest for quick profits and to meet surging coal demands - the source of about 70 per cent of the country's energy.
- AFP/yb
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