"China Rescues 115 from Flooded Mine"

On March 28, 2010, the Wangjialing mine in Shanxi province China flooded by underground water. More than a week after this flood, 115 miners were pulled out of the mine alive. They were taken out wrapped in blankets on stretchers and taken to waiting ambulances, they were said to have been in stable condition. There were a total of 261 workers in the mine when it flooded, 108 men were able to be reach immediately, after the 115 were pulled out, there were another 38 believed to be in the mine. Two days before the major rescue, tapping was heard from inside the mine and the night before the rescue swaying lamp lights were said to have been seen. Some of the miners thought smartly and attached their belts to the shaft walls when the water first began to rush in. After three days of suspending there, a mining cart floated by and they jumped inside. There was a total of 50 rescue groups including 200 people. This is not a first for China, in 2009 there were 2,631 people who died in mining accidents.

I think it's a miracle that so many of the miners were able to be rescued after such a long time in the mine. More than a week is an extremely long time to be anywhere where you have no food, safe drinkable water and the conditions are unsafe. So for the men to be safe is a miracle. I'm guessing that the mine must not have been completely full with water- obviously for the men to have survived they would have needed to breath oxygen- but I'm also guessing that the water must have been higher then the mens' hight considering that when the article described the way some of them attached their belts then later jumped into the mining cart, it said that the men "remained suspended for three days." I also wish to know if the other 38 men who were believed to still be in the mine after the initial 108 and then the 115 featured in this article, were rescued or not. Aside from those who were being rescued, an honor goes out to those who were doing the rescuing. For more than 200 people to be working to help the men inside is awesome. Finally, going to the last part of the article, it's hard to believe that, with 2,631 people having died last year in mining accidents and that being a lower number than other years, that they don't have stricter guidelines, regulations and procedures for the mines in China. The article mentioned that they are setting a campaign to inspect the safety regulations, but this has been going on for years. I don't understand why they haven't made changes before now.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/04/05/china.mine.rescue/index.html?eref=rss_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+Top+Stories%29