Rescuers free 114 Chinese miners

Chinese rescuers have pulled 114 miners from a flooded coal mine in northern Shanxi province more than a week since the accident…

Chinese rescuers have pulled 114 miners from a flooded coal mine in northern Shanxi province more than a week since the accident occurred, with dozens of them rescued today.

"It is a miracle in China's mining rescue history," Luo Lin, head of the State Administration of Work Safety waiting at the pit entrance, was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency.

Rescuers were continuing the search for 38 trapped miners, the agency said.

Shanxi Communist Party chief Zhang Baoshun was quoted as saying most of the survivors were believed to be in stable condition.

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More than 2,000 rescuers had been trying to reach workers trapped at the Wangjialing pit in the northern province of Shanxi since March 28th. The government had blamed lapses in safety measures for the flooding.

The pit was overcrowded and no workers were evacuated even as water leaks were reported, the State Administration of Work Safety said on March 31st.

China has the world's worst coal-mine safety record, with 5,986 workers killed in 2005. The Chinese government has since merged small mines and closed unlicensed coal producers in an effort to improve safety records.

Agencies