Chinese Miners Rescued After 3 Days

BEIJING — Onlookers burst into applause as 69 coal miners trapped in a flooded shaft for more than three days were pulled out yesterday, a rare rescue in a country with the world's deadliest mines.

The 69 were stuck underground but uninjured when the state-owned Zhijian mine in Henan province's Shan County filled with water early Sunday. Thirty-three other miners managed to escape. The trapped miners were rescued at midday yesterday, the Xinhua News Agency reported. It said the first to emerge, identified as Lan Jianning, was met by a crowd who began clapping when they saw him. News photos showed miners, partially clothed and covered in soot, being led from the mine supported by rescuers and paramedics. Some were placed on stretchers. They were also blindfolded, presumably to protect their eyes from the sun after being trapped underground for days.

"Everyone knew we could be saved because the telephone line wasn't broken. If it had been, we'd be dead for sure," survivor Yang Wanjun, 32, was quoted as saying.