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2 miners rescued after trapped 188 hours

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Rescuers on Sunday retrieved the bodies of four miners from the collapsed Heshan Coal Mine in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, where two miners were miraculously pulled out alive in the morning 188 hours after the accident occurred.

Two workers were rescued 188 hours after they were trapped in a coal mine collapse in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, rescuers said Sunday.

The fatalities have increased the death toll in the mine collapse accident to eight.

A total of 71 miners were working underground when the accident occurred on July 2 -- 49 managed to escape.

Rescue works are still going on for 12 people that remain trapped underground.

Ye Fangyong, deputy commander of the rescue headquarters, said that the section where the survivors were found was a ventilation lane 320 meters underground. It was filled with sludge after the collapse, but there was still room for fresh air.

Two workers were rescued 188 hours after they were trapped in a coal mine collapse in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, rescuers said Sunday.

Ye said three more miners trapped at a work platform 390 meters underground may survive because the section also has some space for fresh air.

Rescuers had believed that four other miners would be found with the rescued two, but now say the chances of the remaining 13 being found alive are not good due to the conditions in the mine.

But the rescuers have not given up, Ye said, and are using scientific measures such as a water-proof radar device to help indicate the exact locations of trapped workers.

Moreover, rescuers have been offered 2 million yuan (309,143 U.S. dollars) for each miner they pull out alive.

Yang Yaodong, director of the Guangxi Heshan Coal Mining Company, pledged that the company would do its utmost to rescue the remaining trapped workers.

The two survivors have been identified as 41-year-old Liu Jiagan and 35-year-old Qin Hongdang. They are in stable condition.

Before they were rushed to Heshan People's Hospital for treatment, they told rescuers in weak voices that they survived under the mine by drinking spring water that seeped through the top of the shaft.

The rescuers said that they heard faint sounds of the trapped miners at 3 a.m. Sunday but could not figure out how the sounds were made.

The two miners' miraculous survival on Sunday reminded people of last year's Wangjialing Coal Mine rescue in north Shanxi Province, where a total of 115 workers were pulled out of the flooded coal mine about 179 hours after the accident occurred.

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