Miners: Water Hinders Drilling Work

2 | Thursday, January 21, 2021 HONG KONG EDITION | CHINA DAILY PAGE TWO Miners: Water hinders drilling work Rescue work continues at the Hushan gold mine in Qixia, Shandong province, where 22 miners have been trapped underground since Jan 10. PHOTOS BY WANG KAI / XINHUA From page 1 designated route in such conditions and Ray of hope the underground water. be adjusted as needed,” Song said. it takes time to return to the right On Sunday, nutritional supplements A rescue worker finishing his shift As of Tuesday, eight of the workers For further confirmation, workers course,” Du said. were sent to the miners for the first time early on Wednesday said: “We started were in good condition, two were expe- banged on the rod 27 times in three His concerns heightened when the via a wire. The wire was withdrawn aft- this work on Tuesday morning. It has riencing slight discomfort and one was rounds of nine, receiving a response on drilling work reached within 5 meters er 35 minutes and rescuers found the gone well, but the rock structure is unconscious after injuring his head in each occasion before Du noticed that of the targeted depth. supplements had been taken and that really complicated and we don’t know the explosion. Another miner was the sounds coming from below ground “If there had been any deviation from the miners had sent up a handwritten what difficulties we may encounter injured but could not be reached, were getting weaker. the route, the drilling rod would not note. when the drilling goes deeper.” according to the rescue headquarters. “We had two experienced doctors lis- have reached the area where some of the The note stated that 12 workers were He completed his shift at 2 am on The National Health Commission tening with stethoscopes to the sounds, workers are trapped. I would have let still alive, including four who were Wednesday, before getting some sleep sent a team of experts on Tuesday to but everyone standing around the hole their family members down,” Du said. injured, but the fate of the other 10 was and resuming work seven hours later. help with the medical aid being sent to could hear them,” said Du, who has He chalked the rod to mark the depth unknown. “We are drilling in shifts to ensure the those underground. worked with emergency teams in mine where the workers are trapped. “We are exhausted and in urgent trapped workers remain safe and that The team comprises five experts shafts and helped save more than 300 The rod was then lowered back into need of stomach medicine, painkillers, the water does not pose a threat to from leading hospitals in Beijing work- trapped workers. the hole slowly, but it suddenly bandages and anti-inflammatory drugs. them,” he said. ing in the fields of intensive care, nutri- “We were all heartened immediately stopped descending, at which point Three of us also have high blood pres- Song, the medical team deputy lead- tion, neurosurgery, occupational we heard the sounds,” he said. Du knew it had reached the targeted sure,” the note read. er, said that by Monday rescuers had disease, poisoning cases, and psycho- The hole, which is nearly 22 centime- depth. It also said there was smoke and a lot spoken to the workers twice via the logical intervention, the commission ters in diameter, enables rescuers to Rescuers then started banging on the of water in the area where the workers communications device lowered down said. speak with the trapped miners via a rod to attract the trapped workers’ are trapped. the hole. Medical workers are continuing to communications device passed down to attention. “We hope the rescue work continues, “We send down food supplies two or communicate with the trapped miners them. After getting a response, the rescuers and we remain hopeful. Thank you,” it three times every day,”he said. and are keeping records for each of Nutritional supplements and other raced to lower pipes down the hole to added. On Tuesday morning, porridge was them to ensure they receive proper supplies have been sent to the miners, send supplies to the miners. Two holes are being drilled to drain lowered to the miners. “Nutrients will treatment and care, the rescue head- including medicines twice a day on a quarters said. wire, the rescue headquarters said. Chen Fei, mayor of Yantai city, which Clearing the shaft administers Qixia, said, “Not only were We were all heartened immediately we heard the sounds.” Cables, steel wires and pipes bound the rescuers heartened, but also the together are among the debris that is trapped miners when the channel Du Bingjian, a chief engineer at the National Mine Emergency Rescue Center seriously hampering work to clear the reached them.” shaft used to enter and exit the mine, Song Xicheng, deputy leader of the according to rescuers. medical rescue team at the site, said, Ma Zhimin, deputy leader of the team “After talking to them (the trapped clearing the shaft, said: “We encoun- workers who have been located) tered a heavy blockage at a depth of 340 through the communications device, meters. It took us three days to clear we learned that they were getting debris 7 meters deep.” their strength back.” The team encountered another heavy blockage at the depth of 350 meters on Drilling operations Tuesday, Ma added. The explosion happened at 2 pm on Rescuers have customized some of Jan 10, but it was not until 8 pm next the equipment used to clear the shaft, day that the incident was reported to which has greatly improved efficiency. the emergency department in Qixia. By Wednesday, 589 rescue workers To reach the workers as quickly as had been mobilized nationwide to possible, rescuers cleared debris block- help save the miners, and more than ing the shaft used to enter and exit the 390 machines were working at the mine and also drilled new channels site. from the surface. Two senior officials in Qixia have Ten points were selected to drill from been removed from their posts for the the surface, including a wide aperture late reporting of the explosion, which that will be used to return the workers delayed rescue work. to ground level. Sophisticated machin- An investigation has also been ery is also operating around the clock at launched to determine the cause of the the site. blast. However, the rescuers have encoun- Chen, the mayor, said anyone found tered a number of difficulties in the responsible for the accident would “not drilling work. be spared”. Du said, “Mines of this nature have Liu Jiayi, Party chief of Shandong, strata composed of igneous rocks, and Li Ganjie, the provincial governor, which are the hardest type.” have visited the site several times. He added that two strata contain Clockwise from top left: A wire is used to send nutritional supplements and other supplies to the trapped They urged the rescuers to spare no water, which is hindering the drilling. miners. WANG KAI / XINHUA Rescuers drill a hole to a depth of more than 500 meters in an attempt to save the effort and use every minute to save “Drilling can easily deviate from the workers. WANG KAI / XINHUA Machinery operates around the clock at the rescue site. ZONG LAISONG / CHINA DAILY those trapped..

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