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12 workers survive six days underground
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-05-23 14:51
Rescuers guided 12 weak and blindfolded workers out of a collapsed tunnel in
southern China on Monday after they spent nearly one week in darkness, surviving
on oxygen and milk transported to them through a narrow ventilation pipe, a
Xinhua report said on Monday.
12 workers, trapped
in a collapsed railway tunnel for a week, are rescued and walk, aided by
rescuers, out of the tunnel in southwest China's Yunnan Province May 23,
2005. [Xinhua] |
One worker was carried out on a stretcher but the others managed to walk with
support from rescuers, a TV footage showed.
Large black blindfolds covered their eyes as they emerged to the bright
lights of news cameras and photographers, China Central Television reported. All
the men were in "good condition" but had been sent to a local hospital, the
report said.
Rescuers had to dig 55 metres (180 feet) into the earth to reach the workers
trapped by Tuesday's collapse in Yunnan province, Xinhua said.
"It was faster than we
expected. We estimated digging at least 62 metres," an unnamed rescue worker was
quoted as saying.
One of the
12 workers, trapped in a collapsed railway tunnel for a week, is
carried onto an ambulance in Yunnan Province May 23, 2005. The workers
rescued are in good conditions and could manage to walk on their own.
[Xinhua] | The railway workers were able to
communicate with rescuers during their ordeal through a ventilation pipe, Xinhua
said. It did not say anything about how the workers were able to eat or drink.
The collapse occurred Tuesday night around 10:30 p.m. (1430 GMT) in
Yunnan province on the railroad that connects the cities of Guiyang and Kunming.
An earlier report by the official Xinhua News Agency said
rescuers were feeding the workers milk and providing them fresh air through a
ventilation pipe. The reports did not say what caused the tunnel collapse.
Rescuers are ready
for another mission to save the 12 workers trapped in the collapsed tunnel
in this May 18, 2005 photo. All the trapped workers were rescued Monday
morning and are treated in a hospital.
[Xinhua] |
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