Two China miners crawl to safety after 5 days

BEIJING, Aug 27 (Reuters) Two brothers have crawled to safety after being trapped for nearly six days in a Chinese coal mine, state media said today.

Rescuers and their family had given them up for dead after 130 hours underground after a tunnel collapsed, the China Daily said.

Brothers Meng Xianchen and Meng Xianyou were trapped while working at an illegal mine in Beijing's Fangshan District late on Saturday August 18. Two days later, rescue efforts were called off.

''The miners' families were in despair, burning 'ghost money' for the deceased at the entrance of the mine,'' the China Daily said.

''The only people who didn't give up were the miners themselves'' who started building a tunnel towards the entrance.

The newspaper did not say if any other miners were believed trapped.

On Friday, after 130 hours underground, the two finally saw light.

''After crawling out, they collapsed and were rushed to hospital by miners nearby,'' the report said.

Doctors said the two, both in their 40s, had lost a lot of weight and their kidneys were damaged due to days without food and water.

China has the world's most dangerous coal-mining industry as mine owners flout safety regulations to meet insatiable demand for a fuel powering the country's booming economy.

A gas explosion in an Inner Mongolian mine that was operating illegally killed seven people on Saturday, as officials began handing compensation to families of 181 miners trapped and presumed dead after a flood last week in eastern China.

REUTERS AK BST0632