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Three rescued after 25 days in flooded Chinese mine: reports

Workers strike for higher pay at Chinese-owned mine
Over 1000 workers at the Chinese-owned Shougang Hierro Peru iron mine in the south of the country have begun a strike demanding increased wages, miner representatives told AFP. "This morning 1,126 of us began an indefinite strike," said union leader Julio Ortiz. Workers at the mine, some 350 kilometers (217 miles) south of the capital Lima, are seeking a 10-sole (3.3-dollar) increase on their 55-sole (18.3-dollar) daily wage, Ortiz said. The Chinese Shougang Group, which has run the mine since 1993, has offered an hourly wage hike of 0.70 soles (0.23 dollars), but that was rejected by the union. The strike has been declared legal by the Ministry of Labor here, and Ortiz said he has called on the government agency to help mediate the dispute.
by Staff Writers
Beijing (AFP) July 13, 2009
Three miners were rescued after 25 days trapped in a flooded mine in southwest China chewing on coal and drinking filthy water, local media reported Monday.

The three were hauled out of the mine in Guizhou province on Sunday, their faces black with soot and their eyes covered by a cloth to protect them from the light, the Beijing News and the official Xinhua news agency reported.

The Xinqiao coal mine flooded on June 17, trapping 16 miners underground, and rescuers had previously only found one body.

The miners -- Wang Quanjie, Wang Kuangwei and Zhao Weixing -- were trapped in a deep part of the mine that had protected them from the flood, according to the Beijing News report.

Rescuer Yang Sen, told the paper the three survivors had survived by drinking some of the remaining filthy water and had relied on the weak light still emanating from their lamps.

Once the rescue team had located the trapped miners, they were able to pump in air through ventilation shafts, the report said.

China's state-run central television broadcast images Monday of the three emaciated miners lying on makeshift beds, being treated by doctors in a building next to the mine.

Rescuers said the three were still lucid when they were pulled out of the mine and asked for water, the report said.

The local government was not immediately available for comment.

China's coal mines are notoriously dangerous. Official figures show that more than 3,200 workers died in collieries last year, but independent observers say the actual figure could be much higher, as many accidents are covered up.

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Seven die in Chinese mine: state media
Beijing (AFP) June 6, 2009
Seven miners died in the northwest of China after a gas leak, state media reported on Saturday, the latest in a catalogue of fatalities in the country's notoriously dangerous industry. Rescuers found the bodies of the victims on Saturday after the accident a day earlier in the Dahuangshan mine, in Xinjiang region in the far west of the country, the Xinhua news agency said. Another 81 ... read more







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