Nine rescued after 179 hours in flooded mine

XIANGNING, China -- Nine miners were pulled to safety early today after spending more than a week trapped in a flooded coal mine in northern China, a rescue that had seemed beyond hope for days before crews heard someone tapping from deep underground.

The first survivor was brought to the surface at 40 minutes past midnight, 179 hours after the Wangjialing mine filled with water and trapped 153 people. A crowd of rescue workers, miners and security workers outside the entrance of the mine shaft clapped as the miners were carried out.

"A miracle has finally happened," a rescue headquarters spokesman, Liu Dezheng, told reporters Monday morning. He said the miners were in stable condition, and the state-run Xinhua News Agency said all nine were conscious and could say their name and hometown, but their bodies had suffered from being soaked for so long. Television footage showed at least one miner was brought out barefoot.

State television showed a few of the miners lying in hospital beds, their eyes covered to shield them from the bright lights. "OK, OK, OK," said one surnamed Zhang in response to encouragement from visiting officials. Another miner whispered his surname, Jin, after some coaxing.

China Central Television said some miners managed to attach themselves to a wall with their belts with the water rushed in, and they hung there for three days before getting into a mining cart that floated by.

Rescuers told state television they saw lights inside the mine and thought other miners might still be alive. Liu said 300 rescuers were still underground at midmorning, with the first priority to continue pumping out water. He said the water level had dropped by 14.8 meters since pumping began.

Earlier television images showed the miners wrapped in blankets, placed in ambulances and rushed to a hospital in Hejin city, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) from the mine, where teams of doctors and nurses had been standing by for several days. Reporters who did not belong to state media were prevented from getting close to the site.

Xinhua reported that their blood pressure and heart rates were normal after spending nearly 71/2 days trapped underground. It quoted one of the survivors, Li Guoyu, 38, from Henan province in central China, as saying they had gone without water because they were worried about drinking the dirty water flowing in the tunnel.

The nine men were among 153 trapped since March 28 when workers digging tunnels broke into a water-filled abandoned shaft.

About 3,000 people have worked around the clock using 14 pumps to suck the water out of the mine in Shanxi province.

A glimmer of hope emerged Friday when rescuers heard knocking on a pipe that had been drilled into the mine. But no sounds were heard after that as workers frantically pumped water out and sent divers into the mine to scout conditions.

CCTV did not say how may other survivors there may be. Xinhua reported that swaying lamp lights were seen at the other side of a V-shaped shaft in the mine, indicating people might be there.

CCTV said the bottom of the V-shaped shaft had emerged as the water level fell.

A preliminary investigation last week found that the mine's managers ignored water leaks before the accident, the State Administration of Work Safety said.

China's coal mines are the world's deadliest. Accidents killed 2,631 coal miners in China last year, down from 6,995 deaths in 2002, the most dangerous year on record, according to the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety.

Associated Press researcher Henry Hou in Beijing contributed to this report.