Chinese rescuers on Monday discovered the bodies of nine workers who were killed in explosions after getting stuck about 2,000 feet down a gold mine, increasing the death toll to 10, officials said.
Just a day earlier, rescuers hauled up 11 survivors one by one in baskets from the mine they were trapped in for two weeks in Qixia, a city in China’s eastern Shandong province.
At least one of the miners was reported to have died from a head wound.
One person is still missing.
Twenty-two men got stuck in the mine when an explosion Jan. 10 shifted an estimated 70 tons of debris, blocking the shaft, disabling elevators and trapping workers underground.
Survivors had been getting liquid food sent through a makeshift shaft while trapped underground.
The director of the rescue group, Chen Yumin, told reporters that the nine workers recovered Monday died more than 1,320 feet below ground.
Yumin explained there had been two explosions about an hour and a half apart, with the second explosion causing more damage.
Search efforts will continue for the remaining miner until he is found, according to Chen Fei, the mayor of Yantai city.
“Until this worker is found, we will not give up,” Fei said at a press conference.
Officials on Monday held a moment of silence for the victims.
“Our hearts are deeply grieved. We express our profound condolences, and we express deep sympathies to the families of the victim,” said Fei.
Authorities have detained mine managers for delaying reporting the accident.
The cause of the explosions at the mine, which had been under construction, remains under investigation.
With Post wires