EATING BARK

Some of the trapped workers had relied on eating bark of pine wood and drinking murky underground water to survive during the ordeal, Chen Yongsheng told reporters Monday.

"The trapped miners are clever. Several of them gathered in a group and sway their mine lamps in turns to enable themselves discovered," Chen said.

Hospital staff workers rush a survivor rescued from the flooded Wangjialing coal mine in north China's Shanxi Province into a hospital for medical treatment on Monday, April 5, 2010. [Xinhua]

It was none other than the swaying lamp lights seen from the V-shaped lane Sunday evening that led to the rescue of the first group of nine survivors.

"When they were saved by rescuers, the power supply for their lamps was still very sufficient," he said.

Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang sent a message of regards after the first nine survivors were saved.

Wang Gensheng, the rescuer who first found the trapped people, said the first thing he and his colleagues did after seeing them was to give them comfort.

"One of them asked me: could you get us out of here? I told them: that's what I'm doing here," Wang said.

"I am very, very excited when I saw the trapped workers were still alive. The first thing that came across to my mind was to tell the whole world about the great news," he said.

STABLE CONDITION

Most of the rescued workers, who were being treated at five local hospitals, were in stable condition, but 26 were described in "serious" conditions, rescuers and doctors said.

The Shanxi provincial government and medical experts dispatched by the Health Ministry have decided to transfer 60 of them to key hospitals in the provincial capital Taiyuan Tuesday for better medical treatment.

Liu Qiang, a medical expert involved in the rescue, said after being trapped for more than 179 hours, the survivors are very weak and suffer from malnutrition. Many have severe dehydration and skin infections from being in the water so long, he said.

Doctors have prepared treatment plans for each of the survivors.

"How fantastic to be up on ground again," said a 27-year-old survivor at the Shanxi Aluminium Plant Hospital.

"I was scared to be underground -- without water or food. It is like in heaven now," he said.

Some of the 36 survivors being treated at the Shanxi Aluminium Plant Hospital have been able to eat fluid food such as soup by late Monday. Some others said they felt hungry and wanted to eat more.

"I am inspired by their strong desire to be alive," said a surgeon, Wu Shuangyan, at the hospital.

"Helping the survivors makes me feel very much gratified," she said.

Currently, rescuers are still searching for the other 38 trapped, whose destiny is still unknown.

The number of rescuers underground had risen up to 2,000, Liu Dezheng said late Monday.

Chen Yongsheng, captain of the rescue team, said rescuers haven't reached two working platforms under the pit, where the remaining trapped workers may stay.

"The room under the flooded mining shaft is small. The water surface was less than one meter below the top of the lane, where the survivors were found Monday morning," he said.

Rescuers have used five-seat kayaks to bring out the trapped miners.

The rescue headquarters said they were continuing to pump out the water.

By 9 p.m. Monday, the water level underground had dropped by 16 meters after a total of 180,000 cubic meters of water being drained from the shaft, Liu Dezheng said at news conference late Monday.

"There are still signs of life underground. We will never give up. We will do our best to take them out," he said.