Trapped China miners phone rescuers

Rescuers are in telephone contact with workers trapped for more than a week following an explosion in a gold mine in China and have been able to send them food and medicine, an official says.

Chen Fei, the mayor of the city of Yantai, said it appeared at least 12 of the 22 workers underground are alive and in relatively good health.

The fate of the other 10 workers at the Hushan mine remains unknown.

Hundreds of rescuers have been drilling six shafts in an attempt to reach the different parts of the mine, as well as seeking to clear debris left by an explosion on January 10 that cut the miners off from the surface.

Workers passed a note to the surface on Monday saying they were suffering from toxic fumes and rising water levels but calling on rescuers not to give up.

Mine managers have been detained by authorities for waiting more than 24 hours before reporting the accident.

The mine in Qixia, a jurisdiction under Yantai in Shandong province in China's east, had been under construction at the time of the blast.

Increased supervision has improved safety in China's mining industry, which used to post an average of 5000 deaths per year.

But demand for coal and precious metals continues to prompt corner-cutting, and two accidents in the southwestern megacity of Chongqing last year killed 39 miners.