Rescuers save 13 miners after 80 hours of operation

After more than 80 hours of rescue operation, 13 miners trapped in a flooded coal mine in Sichuan province were rescued on Wednesday.

The Sichuan Coal Industry Group's Shanmushu mine in the province's Gongxian county under the administration of the city of Yibin flooded at 3:26 pm on Saturday.

At the time of the accident, 347 people were working in the shaft. As of Sunday morning, 329 workers were brought to the surface.

Five people were confirmed dead. As of 2:57 am on Wednesday, the rescued 13 people were sent to five hospitals in Gongxian and the city of Yibin.

All the rescued miners were fragile as they had not eaten for days. But they were in stable condition, according to a press release from the Sichuan Coal Industry Group on Wednesday morning.

Yin Li, Sichuan Governor, and Huang Yuzhi, vice-minister of emergency management and head of the National Coal Mine Safety Administration, went to the rescue site overnight on Saturday to oversee search and rescue operation.

Liu Zhongbo, Party chief of Yibin, and Du Ziping, mayor of Yibin, led relative departments in Yibin to the scene, directing search and rescue operations with the Sichuan Coal Industry Group, said Shen Bo, an information office with the Yibin municipal committee of the Communist Party of China.