Dozens of miners freed in ‘miracle’

? Dozens of Chinese miners were pulled out alive after being trapped for more than a week in a flooded coal mine, sparking cheers among the hundreds of rescue workers who had raced to save them and almost given up hope.

A live state television broadcast counted off the number of survivors — now up to 55 — as miners wrapped in blankets were hurried to ambulances that sped to nearby hospitals.

“A miracle has finally happened,” a rescue headquarters spokesman, Liu Dezheng, told reporters this morning, after the first nine miners were taken out shortly after midnight. “We believe that more miracles will happen.”

The stream of survivors started about two hours later.

The Communist Party chief of the northern province of Shanxi said he understood 95 people were still alive, though not all had been pulled out.