Rescuers pulled out alive all 29 coal miners trapped underground by a flood in southwestern China on Monday, in a rare piece of good news for a country with a terrible record for mine disasters.
State television carried live pictures of the miners being brought out of the shaft on stretchers and put into ambulances after more than 24 hours in the pit in Weiyuan county in Sichuan province.
Thirteen of the miners escaped immediately after the flood waters struck the colliery on Sunday. Media reports originally put the number of trapped at 28.
The successful rescue is a boost for China's troubled mining industry, considered the deadliest in the world due to lax safety standards and a rush to feed demand from a robust economy.
More than 2,600 people died in coal mine accidents in China in 2009 alone.
PHOTO CAPTION
File photo shows paramilitary police standing guard at the entrance to a coal mine in China's Shanxi province.
Reuters