Beijing – It will soon be day ten of a meticulous slow mine rescue operation in eastern Shandong province in China. State media say 22 workers were trapped more than 2,000 feet underground after an explosion damaged the access shaft to the gold mine on January 10.
Rescue efforts have continued ever since, with workers drilling a series of small boreholes deep into the ground to reach the trapped miners. So far, they have sent at least three rounds of food and medicine.
It also enabled the rescuers to communicate with the trapped men – first through handwritten notes and now via a telephone line. After a urgent initial medicine request and painkillers, the miners on Tuesday demanded that porridge and pickles be dispatched.
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One letter that appeared Sunday confirmed that 12 miners were alive at the time – 11 of them together, but one was stuck about 150 feet below the group. They said they were suffering from toxic fumes and rising water levels.
The fate of the other ten miners was still unclear on Tuesday. Rescuers knocked on the drill pipe early Monday that led to it, but there was no response.
The boreholes work for food and medicine, but they are about a foot wide, so it is no help to bring the trapped miners back to the surface.
Wider rescue axes are being drilled, but as of Tuesday, the main axle remained the only way in or out, and officials said the stability of the corridor still could not be confirmed.
Xinhua / Wang Kai / Getty