--- description: The miners survived on water passed to them through a narrow hole title: 4 Chinese Miners Rescued After 36 Days Trapped Underground image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5dd9a8cb280ae62d/69887b42524fc052e7df683c/china-miners.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # 4 Chinese Miners Rescued After 36 Days Trapped Underground by [Maya Rhodan](/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 29, 2016 5:12 PM CUT  The first miner, is lifted from a collapsed mine in Pingyi, east China's Shandong Province on Jan. 29, 2016. The first miner, is lifted from a collapsed mine in Pingyi, east China's Shandong Province on Jan. 29, 2016.Guo Xulei—AP by [Maya Rhodan](/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 29, 2016 5:12 PM CUT Four Chinese miners who were trapped underground since Christmas are finally safe after [they were rescued on Friday](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35437156 "undefined"). A [dramatic video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w15p2DNWIVc "undefined") of the rescue from Chinese state media shows a man in a helmet being lifted from an underground tunnel, strapped in a harness. The gathered crowd cheered as the man was lifted to safety. Twenty-nine miners were trapped after a collapse at a gypsum mine in the Shandong province. BBC News reports that 15 have since been rescued but 13 remain missing. One of the miners is dead. The miners had been passed water and liquids through a small hole rescuers carved as they worked to dig the trapped workers out of the hole. BBC reports mines in China are among the world’s deadliest and officials have already taken action against many of this mine’s owners. The company’s chairman reportedly committed suicide shortly after the collapse. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4200016/chinese-miners-rescued/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4200016/chinese-miners-rescued/"},"headline":"4 Chinese Miners Rescued After 36 Days Trapped Underground","datePublished":"2016-01-29T17:12:35.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T14:34:44.089Z","description":"They survived on liquids passed to them through a narrow hole","url":"https://time.com/4200016/chinese-miners-rescued/","keywords":["China"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5dd9a8cb280ae62d/69887b42524fc052e7df683c/china-miners.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5dd9a8cb280ae62d/69887b42524fc052e7df683c/china-miners.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"China Miners Rescued","caption":"China Miners Rescued","creditText":"Guo Xulei—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4200016/chinese-miners-rescued/","name":"4 Chinese Miners Rescued After 36 Days Trapped Underground"}}]}] ```