Chinese miners rescued after week in flooded pit

At least 115 miners were pulled alive from a flooded coal mine in north China after being trapped for over a week, eating bark to survive and prompting jubilant officials to hail their survival a miracle.

Officials said 153 miners were trapped in the unfinished Wangjialing mine in Xiangning, Shanxi province, after it filled with water last Sunday.

The survivors were pulled out late on Sunday night and throughout Monday, with 38 miners still missing. The survivors' condition was reported as stable.

"It is a miracle," said Luo Lin, head of the State Administration of Work Safety, waiting at the entrance of the mine pit, was quoted by the Xinhua news agency as saying.

"The trapped miners stayed so unwaveringly determined down the mine shaft, passing through eight days and eight nights to live."

Survivors were brought out from a working platform, where rescuers had drilled a vertical hole last week. The hole ensured oxygen in the water-flooded pit while rescuers sent down glucose.