Chinese miner rescued from underground

A Chinese miner has been rescued from underground 11 days after the shaft he was working in collapsed. Yuan Shenglin, 36, was pulled from a gypsum mine in Hebei province and rushed to hospital. A local official said Yuan survived because he had some water with him when he was trapped.

The mine was one of three that caved in on 6 November, toppling many of their buildings. Thirty-three miners were killed, while four are still missing. Rescuers searching for survivors first heard Mr Yuan's voice on Wednesday. They inserted a plastic tube 5 metres through collapsed rubble and pumped in food and water to the other side, according to the official China Daily.

The rescuers did not dare to dig a tunnel for fear of another collapse and took a day to build a channel from an adjacent mine, the paper reported. "Please send a message to my family that I'm still alive," Mr Yuan said, after he had been rescued.

His survival was a rare success story for China's notoriously dangerous mines. More than 3,000 miners are reported to have been killed this year alone - in fires, floods and other work-related accidents - and analysts fear the actual annual casualty figure could be much higher. The government has recently begun a drive to improve safety standards in China's mines, many of which are unlicensed, reports BBC news. Photo: AP I.L.