An explosion at a mine in Loudi, in China's central Hunan Province, took nine lives on Tuesday morning while 16 workers escaped the scene. Four injured were sent to a local hospital.

Among the four rescued miners, three of them were receiving medical treatment in Loudi's intensive care unit. A doctor told CGTN the miners were suffering from gas poisoning and aspiration pneumonia, but their body signs were stable.

Guang Pingyang was trapped underground for over 10 hours and was the last to be sent to hospital. But after treatment, he was slowly recovering, his doctor said. 

Ma Xuefu, another survivor, recalled the blast: “Suddenly we heard some noise and felt a huge gust of wind. The wind color was not black, but kind of like rust.”

After realizing something serious had happened, Ma and his workmates tried to evacuate.

“There were five or six of us. I was following them, trying to reach the exit. It was smoggy in there. Over the first few hundred meters, we were fine but when nearing the exit we couldn’t make it. The gas inspector and I dragged each other, trying to walk. But later we had used all our strength, and lay down there.”

At the mine, the rescue team was still searching for three bodies buried underground. An investigation into the cause of the blast was underway.

This was just one of several coal mine accidents in China in the past three months that have cost hundreds of lives.

People are now asking what can be done to prevent this kind of tragedy from happening again.