Rescue team leader: saving lives is sacred mission

Chen groped for the air outlet on the inflatable raft while shouting to the miners, "do not move." After he pulled out the raft plug and released some of the air, the space was widened and the raft moved a little faster, "we tried to reduce the height of the raft by removing air from it. By doing this, we finally made it through the narrow space." The raft was moving closer and closer to the trapped miners.

8 people saved 22 miners

As they got closer, the cries for help also became clearer. When they got to a place about three or four meters from the miners, the rubber boat got stuck again. Seeing that, the miners on the slope all stood up and offered their hands to Chen for help. "Stay still," said Chen, and then, Chen jumped into the water and swam to the slope.

Chen handed out the nutrient solution he carried to the miners, and then he saw that there were a total of 9 miners trapped on the slope. "Many said they were hungry, but I could not give them food, because food might hurt their frail bodies. Therefore, I only gave them the nutrient solution to help them begin to recover."

"What's the date today?" asked a miner. "It is April 5," said Chen. "That can't be true! Don't joke with me." In the darkness, the miners didn't believe they had been trapped down the pit for over 100 hours. "Can you get us out of here?" asked two miners anxiously. The rescue workers held their hands tightly and said, "Since we are here, we guarantee we can get you out of here safely."

Chen asked two rescue workers to stay on the slope, and he himself rowed out in the rubber boat with three miners. "I let the rescue workers to stay on the slope, because they could encourage and give confidence to the other miners." Chen rowed the rubber boat out and in twice and saved 6 trapped miners. At the third time, he took his vice captain with him. "All the rescue workers didn't know how to manage the rubber boat. I tell others of my experience rowing the boat so that we could be more efficient in rescuing the trapped miners."

As the water level of the tunnel kept falling, the space between the rubber boat and the roof of the tunnel also increased. After successfully saving all 9 miners, Chen checked out the map of the pit under his helmet light, and rowed the boat to the second slope. "According to our original analysis, there would be some trapped miners there as well."

Chen saw several swinging torch lights and heard the cries for help much louder than that from the last group. Sweat flowed into Chen’s eyes, but he didn’t have time to wipe it and just shook his head several times. “The miners trapped on this slope had received a nutrient solution before I reached them, and therefore their physical conditions were better." When Chen's boat just reached the slope, he heard someone cried happily. "Thank you! I will be able to see my family again." In that morning, Chen rowed in and out 8 times and saved a total of 22 miners.

Chen said that, of the 115 miners rescued, only 2 were quite weak physically and needed to be carried into the rubber boat with a stretcher. The rest of them could all get into the boat by themselves.

The drainage machines were still roaring. Chen estimated that it would be another two or three days before they could carry out the next rescue. Every day, he would come to the entry of the pit to check the situation. "There are still 30 brothers down in the pit."