So far, 115 survivors have been rescued from the mine in China's coal-mining heartland of Shanxi province, state media said. Some apparently survived on tree bark and at least one worker strapped himself to the wall with a belt.

The news from Shanxi, where 153 workers were trapped when the unfinished mine flooded on March 28, was a rare bright spot for an industry known for its poor safety record and more than 2,600 deaths recorded last year.

"How fantastic to be on ground again," one survivor told Xinhua news agency.

The head of the State Administration of Work Safety, Luo Lin, hailed what he called "two miracles" more than a week after the accident at the state-owned Wangjialing mine, which authorities blamed on lax safety standards.

"The first is that these trapped people have made it through eight days and eight nights -- this is the miracle of life," Luo told China Central Television.

"Secondly our rescue plan has been effective -- this is a miracle in China's search and rescue history."

President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao praised the rescuers and ordered all-out efforts to save the 38 workers still trapped, Xinhua reported.

State television showed survivors being brought out one after another, strapped to stretchers and wrapped in blankets. Towels covered their blackened faces to protect their eyes, light-sensitive after so long underground.

Groups of rescue workers wearing blue and orange jumpsuits loaded them into scores of awaiting ambulances, while medical personnel administered intravenous drips and oxygen.

"When we went down, we saw mine lights. We were really excited and moved. And then when we rescued them, we were even more excited," rescuer Liu Huawei, 29, told AFP.

Most were rescued from a platform above which rescuers had drilled a hole last week, ensuring those trapped had oxygen. Glucose was also sent down to them.

A rescue team captain, Chen Yongsheng, said the workers had survived on tree bark from pine trees used as supports in the mine and drank dirty water from the pit to avoid total dehydration.

"The trapped workers were smart -- they gathered together in groups and rotated the use of their headlamps so that rescuers could see them," Chen said, according to the China News Service.

Rescuers used five-seat kayaks to pull them out, he added.

One doctor told the Shanghai Evening Post a worker had told him he had attached himself to the wall with his belt for three nights to avoid drowning. He then clambered into a mining cart floating by him to reach dry ground.

Liu Qiang, chief of the medical team at the Shanxi Aluminium Plant Hospital where dozens of the workers were being treated, said many of them had unstable blood pressure and were extremely weak, but had begun to eat rice gruel.

He added that 60 of the more serious patients were going to be transferred to Taiyuan, Shanxi's capital, for "even better treatment" on Tuesday.

Footage of the rescue played all day on CCTV as the country marked its annual "grave sweeping day," a national holiday to mourn the dead.

"I have two daughters and a son. I had to do mining work to earn money for them," said one survivor being treated in hospital.

As dusk fell, more than 30 ambulances and teams of white-clad nurses remained at the scene, an AFP reporter witnessed.

At least 3,000 rescuers had raced to pump out water and late Sunday a team of 100 rescue workers went into the mine and found the first nine survivors, before a second team went in.

The accident occurred when workers apparently dug into an older adjacent mine that had been shut down and filled with water, press reports have said.

The work safety watchdog blamed the accident on the owner, the Huajin Coking Coal Company, which failed to heed repeated warnings that water was building up days before the disaster.

Safety is often ignored in China's collieries in the quest for quick profits and to meet surging coal demands -- the source of about 70 percent of the country's energy.

Last week was disastrous for China's mining sector, with five separate accidents that killed 37 people. About 70 others are missing.

According to official statistics, 2,631 coal miners were killed last year in China -- or about seven a day.

In the deadliest recent disaster, 172 workers died in a mine flood in the eastern province of Shandong in August 2007.

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