Bodies of 9 China gold miners found; death toll at 10

One of twenty-two Chinese miners wearing a black patch is saved from hundreds of metres underground, where they had been trapped for two weeks after a gold mine explosion in Qixia, in eastern China's Shandong province. Credit: AFP Photo

Rescuers searching for the remaining workers trapped in a Chinese gold mine after Sunday's dramatic extraction of 11 survivors found nine bodies, a local official said on Monday, taking the death toll to 10, with one miner still missing.

A total of 22 miners working about 600 metres (2,000 feet) underground were trapped after an explosion at the Hushan mine in Qixia, a major gold-producing region under the administration of Yantai in China's coastal Shandong province, on Jan. 10.

Eleven were pulled out alive on Sunday after two weeks underground, including one in a very weak condition whom rescue teams had been unable to send supplies to.