Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Buried brothers survive on urine, coal and humour - Times (U.K.)
Two brothers who were trapped underground survived for six days by eating coal, drinking each others’ urine and cracking jokes about their wives before digging their way out of a collapsed mine shaft with their bare hands. Rescuers had called off their search and families had burned ghost money at the entrance to the pit and left offerings of steamed buns, cakes and canned food to assist the “deceased” miners in the afterlife. But Meng Xianchen and Meng Xianyou emerged after more than 130 hours trapped in the illegal mine in the Fangshan district of Beijing displaying the humour that helped to keep them alive.
...
They dug through half a metre in three hours, taking turns to work because the tunnel was so narrow. “At the end, we were so hungry we ate coal and thought it tasted delicious,” Meng Xianchen said.
...
China’s coalmines claim more lives than pits anywhere else in the world, with an average of 13 deaths a day from fires, explosions and floods. News of the brothers’ escape came as rescuers in Shandong province tried to reach 181 miners trapped in two flooded mine shafts. They have been missing underground for 11 days.
Two brothers who were trapped underground survived for six days by eating coal, drinking each others’ urine and cracking jokes about their wives before digging their way out of a collapsed mine shaft with their bare hands. Rescuers had called off their search and families had burned ghost money at the entrance to the pit and left offerings of steamed buns, cakes and canned food to assist the “deceased” miners in the afterlife. But Meng Xianchen and Meng Xianyou emerged after more than 130 hours trapped in the illegal mine in the Fangshan district of Beijing displaying the humour that helped to keep them alive.
...
They dug through half a metre in three hours, taking turns to work because the tunnel was so narrow. “At the end, we were so hungry we ate coal and thought it tasted delicious,” Meng Xianchen said.
...
China’s coalmines claim more lives than pits anywhere else in the world, with an average of 13 deaths a day from fires, explosions and floods. News of the brothers’ escape came as rescuers in Shandong province tried to reach 181 miners trapped in two flooded mine shafts. They have been missing underground for 11 days.
Labels: suffering
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