53 people have been rescued while five still remain trapped in a coal mine in China’s south-western province of Guizhou following the collapse of two separate sections of the mine’s tunnel within the space of several days.
According to Chinese news agency Xinhua the first collapse in the Anli’lai Coal Mine occurred at 6:26 pm Beijing time on Wednesday, leaving five miners trapped.
A 53-man rescue party sent to retrieve the miners was also trapped when the second collapse occurred at 2:15 the following day.
All 53 rescuers were safely retrieved six hours later via a newly dug tunnel, yet rescuers are continuing to search for the five miners who were first left trapped by the initial tunnel collapse on Tuesday.
The Anli’lai Coal Mine is situated in Louxia township in Pu’an county, and its annual production capacity is 210,000 tonnes.