Rescuers pulled out the last of the 45 surviving miners who were trapped for 40 hours following a rock slide in the shaft of a central China coal mine Saturday.
Eight miners died in the accident Thursday night in the Qianqiu coal mine. Twenty-two managed to escape, but 45 others were trapped, DPA reported.
The last surviving worker was seen waving as he walked out of the mine with the help of rescuers around mid-day, state media said.
A rock burst occurred in the mine following a magnitude-2.9 earthquake, Xinhua news agency said.
The mine, with an annual production capacity of 2.1 million tons, belongs to a state-owned coal enterprise in Henan province.