Satuk Buğra Kutlugün
30 December 2015•Update: 31 December 2015
BEIJING
Chinese teams found eight workers alive Wednesday after five days of being trapped underground following a gypsum mine collapse in eastern Shandong province.
State news agency Xinhua reported that after rescuers detected signs of life in the morning, they were able to contact eight of the 17 miners trapped since the accident in Pingyi county last Friday.
Teams are trying to send provisions to the miners, and life detectors have been lowered through drilled holes.
Of the 29 miners who were reportedly working when the gypsum mine collapsed Friday morning, one has been found dead, four escaped and seven others have been rescued.
The efforts of hundreds of rescuers have been hampered by falling rocks and the persistent distortion of damaged shafts.
On Tuesday, the county government announced that the Party chief of Pingyi, its head and its two deputy heads were removed from their posts for "a series of work safety incidents."
The mine’s owner, Yurong company chairman Ma Congbo, had drowned in an apparent suicide early Saturday morning by jumping into a well while working with rescuers searching for the 17 workers who remain trapped.
The cause of the collapse is still unclear and remains under investigation.
Chinese mines are among some of the deadliest in the world due to lax regulations and poor operating procedures.
