3 rescued after 25 days in flooded China mine

Three miners were rescued after 25 days trapped in a flooded mine in southwest China chewing on coal and drinking filthy water, local media have reported.

The three were hauled out of the mine in Guizhou province on Sunday, their faces black with soot and their eyes covered by a cloth to protect them from the light, the Beijing News and the official Xinhua news agency reported.

The Xinqiao coal mine flooded on June 17, trapping 16 miners underground, and rescuers had previously only found one body.

The miners -- Wang Quanjie, Wang Kuangwei and Zhao Weixing -- were trapped in a deep part of the mine that had protected them from the flood, according to the Beijing News report.

Rescuer Yang Sen, told the paper the three survivors had survived by drinking some of the remaining filthy water and had relied on the weak light still emanating from their lamps.

Once the rescue team had located the trapped miners, they were able to pump in air through ventilation shafts, the report said.

China's state-run central television broadcast images Monday of the three emaciated miners lying on makeshift beds, being treated by doctors in a building next to the mine.

Rescuers said the three were still lucid when they were pulled out of the mine and asked for water, the report said.

The local government was not immediately available for comment.

China's coal mines are notoriously dangerous. Official figures show that more than 3,200 workers died in collieries last year, but independent observers say the actual figure could be much higher, as many accidents are covered up.