Russian Miners Found Alive

29/10/2003| IslamWeb

11 Russian miners who have been trapped underground for several days are alive. One man is dead and another is missing. The breakthrough in the rescue operation came as workers managed to pierce a tunnel through to the shaft this morning. As they burrowed into the mine they found a sign written by the group. It indicated they had made their way to an air pocket. Rescue workers and families have been hoping the group would make their way to the air chamber, but it was touch and go throughout the operation as they had not been able to establish any contact with the group. Five days ago icy floodwaters from an underground lake gushed into the mine in the south of the country. But just as Russia was breathing a sigh of relief over that ordeal, another huge explosion hit a different mine near the eastern city of Vladivostok. All the miners have been pulled to the surface, five men are dead and several are injured. **PHOTO CAPTION*** Rescuers help one of the trapped miners (C) of Zapadnaya coal mine in Novoshakhtinsk in southern Russia during initial rescue operations. (AFP/File/Eduard Korniyenko)