It is a considerable advance in this relief operation.
Eleven of the 21 workers trapped since January 10 hundreds of meters underground after the explosion of the Qixia gold mine were rescued on Sunday.
VIDEO. Accident in a gold mine in China: 22 miners trapped
Rescuers have been working for two weeks to rescue these workers threatened by rising waters.
The explosion of the gold mine blocked the ventilation shaft, causing an obstruction that damaged the cable car allowing the miners to go up.
One of the miners, injured by the blast, has already lost his life.
The first miner rescued this Sunday rose to the surface at 11 a.m. (3 a.m. GMT), according to the public broadcaster CCTV.
"Extremely weakened", he was immediately taken to hospital, said the same source.
Over the course of the day, ten other men followed.
Sudden fall of obstacles
This rescue, closely followed by all the inhabitants of the country, was made possible by the sudden release of a ventilation duct, according to the New China news agency citing the operations command center.
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China: a complex drilling to save the miners stuck at the bottom
On Sunday morning, the huge obstacles blocking the well suddenly fell to the bottom, allowing relief operations to make considerable headway, said Du Bingjian, an expert specializing in relief operations.
Ten other minors were still missing late Sunday afternoon
Stuck 580 meters below the ground
On Sunday, public broadcaster footage initially showed a small forklift being pulled up, lifted by a massive drill.
A masked man, who appeared unable to stand, emerged accompanied by rescuers.
The first rescued man was found by rescuers as they tried to reach the group of ten minors with whom rescue services had established contact last week.
They were stuck 580 meters underground.
Thanks to a wire cable lowered through a conduit dug in the rock, rescuers transmitted food, medicine and phones and this group was able to bring two written messages to the surface.
Drilling operations are complicated by the geological structure of the soil, made up of particularly hard rocks like granite.
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Helpers estimated on Friday that at least two weeks would still be needed to release all the workers despite the frantic continuation of drilling operations.
While mine safety has improved significantly over the past decades, accidents still occur regularly in China, where regulations are sometimes not enforced.
In December, 23 miners were killed in a coal mine in southwest China.
