XIANGNING, China (AP) -- More than 100 Chinese miners were pulled out alive Monday after being trapped for over a week in a flooded coal mine, where some ate sawdust and strapped themselves to the shafts' walls with their belts to avoid drowning while they slept. Rescued miners wrapped in blankets, some with their light-sensitive eyes covered but their feet bare, were hurried to waiting ambulances that sped wailing to nearby hospitals. One clapped on his stretcher and reached out his blackened hands to grasp those of rescuers on either side. Rescuers in tears hugged each other at the scene, which was broadcast live on national television. The sudden surge in rescues was a rare piece of good news for China's mining industry, the deadliest in the world. A rescue spokesman said 115 survivors had been pulled out as of 4:30 p.m. local time (0830 GMT; 4:30 a.m. EDT). Of the 153 initially trapped, there are still 38 miners in the shaft. Rescuers expressed confidence Monday they could be saved but did not say whether there had been any contact with them. (19 images)
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A coal miner rescued from the Wangjialing Coal Mine in Xiangning county is rushed into a hospital in Hejing town in north China's Shanxi province on Monday, April 5. More than 100 Chinese miners were pulled out alive Monday after being trapped for more than a week in the flooded coal mine, sparking cheers among the hundreds of rescue workers who had raced to save them and almost given up hope. AP / Ng Han Guan
A rescued miner is taken out of the flooded Wangjialing coal mine in Xiangning, north China's Shanxi Province, Monday, April 5. More than 100 Chinese miners were pulled out alive Monday after being trapped for over a week in a flooded coal mine, where some ate sawdust and strapped themselves to the shafts' walls with their belts to avoid drowning while they slept. AP / Xinhua News Agency / Yan Yan
A survivor is rescued out of the flooded Wangjialing Coal Mine in Xiangning, north China's Shanxi Province, Monday, April 5. More than 100 miners were pulled to safety early Monday after spending more than a week trapped in a flooded coal mine in northern China, a rescue that had seemed beyond hope for days before crews heard someone tapping from deep underground. AP / Xinhua News Agency / Yan Yan
Rescued miners are carried to ambulances at the flooded Wangjialing Coal Mine in Xiangning, north China's Shanxi Province, on Monday, April 5. AP / Xinhua News Agency / Yan Yan
Health workers wait for the arrival of coal miner rescued from the Wangjialing Coal Mine in Xiangning county at the entrance to a hospital in Hejing town in north China's Shanxi province on Monday, April 5. AP / Ng Han Guan
Residents watch as health workers move a coal miner rescued from the Wangjialing Coal Mine in Xiangning county into a hospital in Hejing town in north China's Shanxi province on Monday, April 5. AP / Ng Han Guan
A coal miner rescued from the Wangjialing Coal Mine in Xiangning county is rushed into a hospital in Hejing town in north China's Shanxi province on Monday, April 5. AP / Ng Han Guan
Residents wait for the arrival of coal miners rescued from the Wangjialing Coal Mine in Xiangning county at the entrance to a hospital in Hejing town in north China's Shanxi province on Monday, April 5. AP / Ng Han Guan
A rescue worker rests at the entrance to the Wangjialing coal mine where more than 110 workers were pulled out alive from the flooded mine being built in northern China's Shanxi province on April 5. So far, 115 survivers have been rescued from the mine in China's coal-mining heartland of Shanxi province, state media said. Some apparently survived on tree bark and at least one worker strapped himself to the wall with a belt. AFP / Getty Images / Peter Parks
Rescue workers head back to their camp at the Wangjialing Coal Mine in Xiangning county in north China's Shanxi province, Sunday, April 4. AP / Ng Han Guan
A coal miner shouts orders as he attempts to push a cart of supplies into the main shaft of the Wangjialing Coal Mine in Xiangning county in north China's Shanxi province, Sunday, April 4. Search and rescue continue almost a week after water flooded a mine, trapping 153 miners. AP / Ng Han Guan
Workers prepares rescue materials outside the main shaft of the Wangjialing Coal Mine in Xiangning county in north China's Shanxi province, Sunday, April 4. AP / Ng Han Guan
A rescue worker uses his mobile phone near a pile of pipes at the Wangjialing Coal Mine in Xiangning county in north China's Shanxi province, Sunday, April 4. AP / Ng Han Guan
Workers prepares rescue materials outside the main shaft of the Wangjialing Coal Mine in Xiangning county in north China's Shanxi province, Sunday, April 4. AP / Ng Han Guan
Helmets and boots pile up in the dust outside the shaft to the Wangjialing Coal Mine in Xiangning county in north China's Shanxi province, Sunday, April 4. AP / Ng Han Guan
Members of the Chinese paramilitary police march past a row of ambulances parked outside the Wangjialing Coal Mine in Xiangning county in north China's Shanxi province, Sunday, April 4. AP / Ng Han Guan
Rescue workers prepare floating aide outside the Wangjialing Coal Mine in Xiangning county in north China's Shanxi province, Sunday, April 4. AP / Ng Han Guan
Residents watch rescue work from the hillside near Wangjialing Coal Mine in Xiangning county in north China's Shanxi province, Sunday, April 4. AP / Ng Han Guan
Rescue workers rest on the ground as relatives of trapped mine workers walk past them at Wangjialing coal mine, Xiangning township, Shanxi province, about 400 miles southwest of Beijing, Tuesday, March 30. Workers reported underground water leaks days before a flood coursed through a coal mine in northern China, where 153 people remained trapped Tuesday in potentially one of the country's worst mining disasters, a worker and state media said. AP / Gemunu Amarasinghe
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