11 of 13 trapped Russian miners found alive

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, October 30, 2003

11 of 13 trapped Russian miners found alive

Out of 13 miners trapped in a flooded mine in southern Russia since Thursday, 11 have been found alive, with one dead and another still missing, officials said on Wednesday.

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Out of 13 miners trapped in a flooded mine in southern Russia since Thursday, 11 have been found alive, with one dead and another still missing, officials said on Wednesday.

Rescuers were evacuating the miners out of the Zapadnaya mine in the Rostov Region and search for the last missing one is underway, Itar-Tass news agency cited the operation headquarters as saying.

The 11 miners alive are unable to walk by themselves and one of them is in serious condition, rescuers said.

A total of 71 men were working at the mine on Thursday evening when an underground lake broke through into the mine's tunnels, but 25 managed to escape to the surface. Rescuers lifted 33 others to the surface on Saturday.

Rescuers have been working desperately to stem the inflow of water, which continued to gush into the main shaft of the Zapadnaya mine over the past five days at a rapid speed.

Some of the crews kept dumping slag, concrete pillars, crushed rocks and metal pipes down the mine to seal the leak, while others tunneled through solid rock from an adjacent shaft to reach the position where the 13 miners were presumed to stay.

It was the second such incident at the Zapadnaya mine this year. The mine was once flooded in February, but no people were inside at the time.

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