For ten days now, 21 Chinese miners have been trapped underground in a gold mine in Qixia, in Shandong province, in the east of the country.
Rescuers continue to drill deep into the ground in hopes of freeing them, state media reported.
On January 10, an explosion trapped 22 workers several hundred meters deep.
But one succumbed to injuries from the blast, public television CCTV said on Wednesday.
The rise in groundwater also worries the rescuers.
“Presence detectors and nutrient solutions have been lowered to other sections in order to identify minors who have not been heard from.
But no sign of life has been detected, ”the China New News Agency reported.
A group of rescuers arrives at the site / VIA REUTERS
Rescuers established contact on Sunday with a first group of 11 men stranded about 580 m underground.
The rescue teams were able to drill two conduits which allow them to get food, medicines, telephones and basic necessities through a system of metal cables.
A well, the width of a manhole cover, is also being widened by rescuers in the hope of being able to pass the miners trapped underground, CCTV said.
The operations are complicated by the hardness of the underground rocks (granite) and the abundant presence of water inside the mine, authorities said.
The emergency services lost precious time after the accident, because it was not made public until the next day.
Two Qixia officials - the local Communist Party leader and the mayor - were removed from their posts last week due to the delay.
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Mining accidents are common in China, where the industry has a poor safety record and regulations are sometimes not enforced.
In December, 23 miners were killed in a coal mine in Chongqing, in the southwest of the country.
Paramedics waiting near the Qixia / Aly Song / REUTERS mine shaft
