Rescue suspended as expressway tunnel collapses

NANCHANG - Rescue efforts were suspended Tuesday with sixteen miners still trapped after an expressway tunnel collapsed Sunday night in East China's Jiangxi province.

As of 3:30 pm Tuesday, efforts were temporarily delayed due to problems in clearing up the collapse on the Daqing-Guangzhou Expressway, said rescuers.

The tunnel, which was under construction at the time of the incident, collapsed at around 10 pm Sunday in Longnan county in the city of Ganzhou.

About 250 rescuers have been sent to the incident. They discovered the location of the miners after hearing them tapping on pipes that reach to the outside of the mine shaft.

With previous rescue plans having failed, rescuers have been urgently formulating a new plan and have brought in more rescue equipment from the capital city of Nanchang.

The miners managed to send a piece of paper with a message confirming their safety through a vent located near the tunnel's exit, local government said. Food, drink and telephones have been sent down to the miners.

The tunnel is part of a 3,429-km expressway that stretches from Northeast China's Heilongjiang province all the way to South China's Guangdong province.