BEIJING – It will take at least 15 more days to go through a massive amount of debris and reach miners already trapped for 11 days after an explosion at a gold mine in eastern China, authorities said on Thursday.
The mine shaft is blocked at 1,000 feet below 70 tons of debris that extends down another 330 feet, the Yantai city government said in a statement on its social media account.
“Based on expert assessments, the extent of the deadlock … is good, it is beyond expectations,” the statement said.
A worker died of head injuries in the blast, state media reported earlier on Thursday. Of the remaining 21, rescuers made contact with 10, one is said to be alive in a nearby room, and the status of the other 10 is unknown.
The deceased worker had been in a coma. It is said that two others are in poor health. Rescuers delivered food, medicine and other supplies to the group of 11 people while working to remove debris and improve ventilation.
State media reports said exhaustion had set in among some workers since the January 10 explosion shattered the mine under construction in Qixia, a jurisdiction under Yantai in Shandong Province.
Rescuers tried to clear cages and other debris that blocked the main shaft while drilling other shafts for communication, ventilation and possibly to lift workers to the surface. The boredom has reached depths of about 700 meters, reports say.
My managers were detained because they waited more than 24 hours before reporting the accident, the cause of which was not announced.
Increased surveillance has improved safety in China’s mining industry, which averaged 5,000 deaths a year. However, demand for coal and precious metals continues to cut corners, and two accidents in Chongqing last year killed 39 miners.