Six miners rescued after being trapped underground for a week in flooded Chinese pit

Six men were rescued from a flooded Chinese coal mine on Monday having survived a week underground after at least four of their colleagues were killed, state media said.

Another five workers were still trapped at the colliery at Hegang in the northern province of Heilongjiang.

It flooded on July 20, trapping 15 miners, with investigators blaming the accident on a downpour, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Xinhua said rescuers started bringing the men out early on Monday and posted images online showing a heavily-wrapped miner being loaded into an ambulance.

“Rescuers are racing to search for the other five workers who have been trapped in the pit for about seven days,” Xinhua said.

Xuxiang Colliery -- the scene of the accident -- is privately owned, with an annual output of 150,000 tonnes, it said.