Five Chinese miners confirmed dead as rescue operation continues

Chinese rescuers have pulled five bodies from a flooded coalmine, a day after the rescue of more than 100 fellow miners who survived for more than a week underground . Teams were still searching for another 33 workers missing at the unfinished Wangjialing mine, in northern Shanxi province. Officials said 153 miners were trapped when water poured in as tunnellers broke through a disused and flooded shaft on 28 March. Survivors described eating sawdust and strapping themselves to the walls in case they fell in to the water while asleep. Officials have expressed optimism about those still trapped, but earlier today China Central Television reported that gas levels in the mine were reaching dangerous levels. Miners and relatives believe more people could be trapped than reported, suggesting that not all of those in the pit had signed in for work. Liu Qiang, leader of the rescue force's medical team, told state media the survivors were very weak, dehydrated and malnourished. But while 26 were seriously ill, none were in critical condition. The men were so weak that they were able to eat only rice porridge and glucose at first, he added. The state news agency, Xinhua quoted one survivor as saying: "I want to have meat. Sausage would be better," as he was handed a bowl of egg and tomato noodles. A medical train ferried 60 of the injured to Taiyuan, the nearest city, for better medical care. China's mining industry is one of the deadliest in the world. Although a safety campaign has closed thousands of pits and cut the death rate, there were still 2,631 deaths in mines last year. The relatively high wages prove an irresistible draw for many migrant workers despite the risks attached. The Wangjialing mine is run by a joint venture involving two state-owned companies, China National Coal Group and Shanxi Coking Coal Group. "We demand the company get prepared for an investigation ... and provide real technical data and basic information for it," Liu Dezheng, a Shanxi provincial mining official, told Reuters.