More than 10 days after the mine accident in East China's Pingyi county, 17 miners remain trapped. So far the death toll stands at one, with 11 people having been rescued earlier. To save those who are trapped, life-saving drills are being dug.
It's been 11 days since the gypsum mine collapsed in east China's Shandong province. At the moment the rescue operation for the 4 surviving miners is making very little progress due to the structural instability of the tunnels and frequent falling debris underground.
Right next to me is the rescue tunnel which is marked as NO.4 life saving drill hole, it is equipped with an American made drill bit. Even though it has reached 200 meters underground but in order to pull the 4 miners up by a rescue capsule, this tunnel has to be enlarged in dimension. And also, the geological conditions here are very complicated, we are facing multiple layers like rock, aquifer, gravel and gypsum.
So it could take days or even longer to eventually reach the 4 surviving miners. Now let's move on to the other rescue tunnel that is marked as NO.5 life saving drill hole: this one is equipped with a German made drill bit, and unlike the American drill, the hole it drills is larger in diameter which means a rescue capsule can fit well in the tunnel. So far, it has reached over 50 meters down, But again, the unstable geological conditions are making the further drilling work very difficult.
Over 900 rescuers are working around the clock here, and in terms of the 4 surviving miners, their physical conditions remain fine and a team of medical experts has designed a special food menu which helps them to stay in good health in the dark.
