Trapped miners send note, giving new hope to rescuers

All 22 miners trapped in a gold mine in Qixia, Shandong province, are still alive after a blast a week ago, according to the rescue headquarters on Sunday night.

Food and other supplies for possible survivors were lowered via a wire, and rescuers felt a tug on the wire around 10:50 pm. When the rescuers pulled the wire back 35 minutes later, they found that the supplies had been taken and a note was attached that said all the miners were alive, according to the headquarters.

The explosion occurred at 2 pm on Jan 10 at the Hushan gold mine, which was under construction.

Twenty-two miners were working more than 600 meters underground at the time of the blast, which damaged the mine's communications system, leaving rescuers unable to contact the workers.

A total of 439 people from 14 rescue teams are working round-the-clock at the site, and the rescue headquarters said that more people were joining the teams to help reach the trapped miners.

The shaft has been blocked by debris, including cables, metal and steel wires, hindering the rescuers' efforts.

After rescue workers spotted some cracks in the debris heaped in the shaft, they dropped some peanuts down the shaft in an attempt to provide the trapped miners with some food, rescue team member Sun Yingxiang was quoted as saying by Dazhong Daily, a provincial newspaper.

Rescuers had cleared debris from the shaft to a depth of 350 meters by Saturday noon, he said.

Yao Xiuxia, Party secretary of Qixia, and Zhu Tao, mayor of the city, were removed from their posts on Friday in relation to the accident, which was not reported until 30 hours after the blast, denying rescue teams precious time to reach the workers.