China rescues all 29 trapped

Trapped miners were pulled out alive out of the flooded pit one by one in the rescue bid

beamed live countrywide, a day after the accident happened at 11 am on Sunday, official state media Xinhua reported.

The trapped miners came out of Batian Coal Mine in Neijiang to a loud applause as emergency vehicles and hundreds of workers and journalists were at hand to see them come out of the ordeal. Rescued miners, with no visible injuries but looking weak, were rushed to a hospital in Neijiang City and the People’s Hospital of Weiyuan.

China’s mines are the deadliest in the world with more than 2,600 miners reported killed in coal mine accidents alone last year.

Most of the accidents in China occur in illegally operated coal mines, but Xinhua said the Batian mines had stopped production and were being upgraded to increase their output from 50,000 to 60,000 tonnes per year.