Eight trapped in iron ore mine in NE China

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01:02

Three of the eight miners still trapped in an iron-ore mine that flooded early Friday in northeast China's Heihe City have been located, local authorities said, but the location of five others is still unknown.

The 35 miners who were pulled out earlier have been hospitalized and are now in stable condition.

Since then, two more miners have been pulled out of the flooded iron ore mine in Xunke County of Heihe City, one at 3.42 a.m. and the other at 5.31 a.m. local time. Both are conscious and in stable health condition, according to medical personnel on site. They have been sent to hospital for further examination and medical treatment in the neighboring city of Yichun.

Rescue work is still underway. /CCTV Photo

The primary investigation revealed that a collapse occurred while work was underway, leading to river water rushing into the mine

The incident took place at around 3:00 a.m. (local time) on Friday when 43 people were working underground at the mine in Xunke County, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, local officials said.

Rescue work is underway. /CCTV Photo

The progress has been made after four rescue teams were sent down on Saturday night to further investigate the tunnels and work out feasible plans to increase rescue efforts.

The emergency command team says saving the rest six trapped miners will remain the priority of the rescue effort.

It has been over 48 hours since the mine suffered from water leakage and 43 workers went down.

(Top image: CCTV Photo)