'MIRACLE' MINE RESCUE

Four mineworkers who survived the December 25 collapse 200 m underground in a gypsum mine in eastern China's Pingyi County were finally pulled to surface 36 days later in what was described as a “miraculous” rescue. In a country with a poor track record on industrial incidents, the final operation took two hours and drew comparisons to the incident in 2010, which saw a fall of ground at the troubled 121-year-old San José copper-gold mine in Chile trap 33 miners 700 m underground for 69 days. In both cases, the miners were sustained by food lowered to them by rescue workers.