Fighting to stay alive underground in wangjialing
No screams but dead silence and cold darkness. That was what the 40-year-old Hu Qianhai could remember the minute water rushed into the coal mine shaft he was working in.
The flood, which happened on March 28 in Wangjialing coal mine in North China's Shanxi Province, came so unexpectedly that no one had time to react or escape.
"It was so dreadful and my legs were shaking. It never occurred to me where and how to get out. My mind went totally blank," said Hu, recalling the event as he lay in his hospital bed.
In only a few seconds, the water level had already come up to his chest. Out of instinct he climbed up to ceiling where there was an iron grid and hung there like a marinated duck ready to be roasted.
"Are we going to die?" fellow miner Li Guaye shouted out. Five others were trapped with Hu. They turned off the lights on their helmets to save the batteries and tied their clothes to the grid.
They could hear the tick-tock of their watches, their breathing, and the sounds of dripping water underground. There were too deep underground to hear the desperate voices above ground from the cries of family members to the shouts and curses of colleagues.
"What would have happened to her if I had died? I have never said, 'I love you' to her," said Hu. His first thought was of his wife Huang Yinyu, a machinery factory worker in Hechuan, where Hu used to be a cook before he went to Wangjialing to work as a miner in the hopes of earning more money.
In the first three days, Hu survived by drinking his urine. He and his fellow miners used their helmets to hold urine, the only water source they could find in the black polluted water that flooded the coal mine.
If he had known this would happen, he would have eaten more for breakfast on the first day, because not having any food was horrible, Hu told reporters. He only had had a bowl of noodles and some steamed buns before he went down the mine to work, Hu recalled.
On the fourth day, Hu's hunger subsided. They held each other's hands to keep warm. The water level began to fall, and among the things floating by, such as cups, boots and helmets, Hu spotted an empty cart.
"It was one of the kinds used to load coal, with a big top and small bottom," Hu explained. He couldn't see it clearly until it drifted closer because his vision was blurry and he was dizzy because of starvation.
Already feeling numbness from the waist down after hanging for four days, Hu and the other miners with him jumped into the cart and lay inside.
It was not until the eighth day that Hu caught a glimpse of flickering reflected on the surface of the water. At first he thought he was hallucinating and he kept rubbing his eyes. When his colleague Li confirmed his suspicions, Hu was too feeble to speak. They began to knock the cart and make sounds as the light became brighter and brighter.
Hu doesn't remember how he was saved but only that he was the sixth person to be carried out. Someone shouted, "Lao Hu, it's me, Lao Wang. You are alive!"
Hu blurted out, "Tell my wife I am alive!"
Having been trapped underground for 192 hours, Hu had lost 12 kilograms, his eyes sunken.
If you need any more details of the above news and/or products, please visit Chinatungsten Online, or contact us directly.
Disclaimer: The article is only reflecting the opinions of the author. We have no responsibility to prove the originality and authenticity of the content, words and/or pictures. You readers should just take it as reference and check the details by yourselves. And the content is not a suggestion for investment decision. The investor takes his or her own risks if he or she operates accordingly. If you have any dissent about the contents above, please contact the relevant author, or the webmaster. We will try our best to assist the dealing of the related issues. Thanks for your visit and cooperation.
