A Chinese rescue team have found the bodies of nine workers at Qi Xia gold mine in Shandong, China. This recent discovery has raised the death toll to 10 people.
Eleven others were rescued a day earlier after being trapped underground for two weeks. The rescuers are still working to locate one person trapped in the Qi Xia gold mine.
One worker was extremely weak when the rescue team pulled him to safety. He was trapped in No. 4 section on his own, with no food and water for 15 days.
Chen Fei, the mayor of Yantai, where the mine is located, said at a news conference on Monday, that rescuers working below this section faced huge difficulties because of the large amount of water in that area.
“We won’t stop searching until we find him,” Chen said.
Chen Yumin, director of the rescue team, said there had been two explosions about 90 minutes apart, with the second explosion causing more damage.
An inspection of the area where the nine bodies were found showed that those workers died in a second explosion while trying to climb to a safe area after the first explosion.
At the news conference, Mr Chen Fei and other officials involved in the rescue effort held a moment of silence for the victims, bowing their heads. “Our hearts are deeply grieved. We express our profound condolences, and we express deep sympathies to the families of the victim,” he said.
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READ RELATED Twenty-two workers trapped underground after mine explosion in China
Twenty-two workers have been trapped underground following an explosion in a gold mine which is under construction in east China’s Shandong Province, local authorities reported the event late Monday night.
The accident happened at 2 pm on Sunday at Qi Xia gold mine in Yantai, Shandong. However, the Yantai government did not receive the accident report from Qi Xia authorities until 8:48 pm Monday.
Shandong Authorities said the rescue team had been unable to contact the trapped miners as the blast damaged the communication signal system underground.
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