23 people have been rescued after an explosion at an iron-ore mine in Northeast China's Liaoning province. 2 are still missing. A rescue operation is underway. CGTN's Xu Xinchen is there.

XU XINCHEN BENXI, LIAONING "Rescuers spent the entire evening clearing out debris around a metal tower above the entrance and preparing a lift system to bring up the people trapped underground."

The explosion was massive, but it did not block the shaft. In fact, most of the people trapped inside can still walk on their own after being rescued. Only one so far has a broken leg.

YU QINGWEI VICE MAYOR OF BENXI "The rescue mission has been challenging. The explosion was caused by explosives, and wounded so many. In addition, this mine is ultra-deep on a national level, and we don't have much experience dealing with it. We immediately reported to the provincial government, and the provincial safety supervision bureau sent in experts and rescue team to help us."

So far, what we know is that explosives were accidentally set off while being sent down from the surface. The mine is under construction and has not yet started operation. The project is owned by Huamei Group - one of the largest construction firms for the mining sector in China's northeast. The mine is more than one-kilometer deep and people were trapped at three different levels, 6 at the closest point to the ground, 12 close to the bottom and 5 at around 900 meters.