All 29 trapped in China mine rescued

Rescuers on Monday pulled to safety 29 people trapped in a flooded mine in southwestern China in a rare bit of good news for the country's disaster-prone mining sector.

China Central Television broadcast live images of people being taken on stretchers from the Sichuan province coal mine to ambulances, about 24 hours after they were stranded in the pit, as rescuers and onlookers cheered.

China is accustomed to tragic news about its beleaguered coal miners, while the success in Sichuan stood in stark contrast to the situation in New Zealand, where 29 men remained missing after an explosion at a coal mine last week.

China's official Xinhua news agency said 22 of those rescued were miners, while the other seven were people sent down after the accident in an initial rescue bid who also became trapped.

At least 35 miners were working in the Batian mine near the city of Neijiang when the flood hit, but 13 managed to escape, reports said.

Those pulled out Monday wore eye masks to protect them from the sun after emerging from the dark shafts. Some appeared wet, but state television said those rescued were in stable condition.

AFP was not immediately able to contact provincial and local safety officials for comment.
China's notoriously dangerous coal-mining sector is regularly hit by deadly accidents blamed on the flouting of safety rules as operators try to keep costs down.

The rescue in October of 33 Chilean miners after more than two months underground sparked criticism in China of the government's inability to prevent such mishaps or successfully rescue miners stricken by accidents.

Last year 2,631 Chinese miners died in the line of work, according to official statistics, but independent labour groups say the true figure is likely to be much higher as many accidents are believed to be covered up.

Last month, a gas blast in a coal mine in central China's Henan province killed 37 mine workers.

The government has repeatedly vowed to shut dangerous mines and strengthen safety, but the accidents continue with regularity as mines rush to pump out the coal on which China relies for about 70 per cent of its energy.

However, occasionally a rescue story lifts spirits.

In March this year a flood at the huge, unfinished Wangjialing mine in the northern coal-mining heartland of Shanxi trapped 153 workers underground, of whom 115 were rescued.

The government agency that oversees coal mine safety said last week all collieries would be required to have emergency shelter systems by June 2013 to protect miners in the event of accidents.

All state-linked coal mines, meanwhile, would be required to set an example by completing such facilities a year earlier.

Lin Shucheng, Sichuan's top safety official, was quoted as saying on Sunday that the Batian mine had recently been renovated to increase its annual output to 60,000 tonnes from 50,000 tonnes.

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