奇蹟！坦桑5礦工被困41天獲救! Tanzania gold miners trapped for 41 days rescued!
(2015年11月19日)
倖存礦工。（圖片來源：網際網路）
坦尚尼亞礦業部門17日證實，5名採金礦工因礦井坍塌事故被困地下41天後獲救並奇蹟生還。
幾名倖存的礦工說，受困期間，他們以蟑螂和青蛙為食維持生命。
【黑暗41天】
10月5日，20名礦工在位於坦尚尼亞希尼安加區西北部的一處礦井作業。據新華國際客戶端了解，當時，他們挖掘的一條豎井發生坍塌事故，14人成功逃出，其餘6人被困。
法新社報道，6名礦工中，1人在受困期間死亡，其餘5人本月15日獲救並被送往醫院，目前情況依然嚴重。
獲救後，這些礦工在醫院接受治療。
坦尚尼亞能源與礦業部發言人巴德拉·馬蘇德17日說，在長達41天的時間裡，這幾名礦工被困在深達100米的地下，「（目前）身體非常虛弱」。
據生還的礦工描述，起初，他們還可依靠安全帽和手機的燈光尋找出路，但電池很快耗盡。新華國際客戶端獲悉，在超過一個月的時間裡，他們一直在黑暗中生活，最終躲進之前用來存放工具的一處洞室。
「礦井坍塌時，我們大概有20人，一些同事逃出去了，但（我們）6人被困地下，」倖存礦工查查·萬布拉16日晚些時候告訴坦尚尼亞國家電視台記者，「（受困期間）我們吃蟑螂、青蛙和其他昆蟲來維持生命，喝（從地面）滲下來的髒水」。
奇蹟生還的礦工。（圖片來源：網際網路）
【堪稱奇蹟】
坦尚尼亞《公民報》報道，坦尚尼亞礦業部把這次救援稱為「奇蹟」。
當地警官尤斯圖斯·卡穆吉沙告訴法新社記者，在另一條豎井作業的其他礦工聽到了受困人員的求救聲。
「他們聽到這些人呼喊『救命』，」卡穆吉沙說，「（一開始）他們覺得鬧鬼了，所以離開了，但還是向當地官員報告了這件事，（隨後）想到了之前困在井下的礦工」。
最初，當地官員無法相信在地下受困如此之久後幾名礦工還能倖存。
按卡穆吉沙的說法，這幾名礦工已被認定死於礦難。最終，救援行動於14日展開，5名礦工次日獲救。
「我們仍在試圖尋找已經身亡的那名礦工（遺體），據說他是在救援行動展開前的15天死亡，」卡穆吉沙說。
在坦尚尼亞金礦作業的礦工。
法新社報道，坦尚尼亞是非洲第四大黃金生產國。採金礦工通常使用基本工具作業，缺乏支撐或穩固所挖豎井的措施，人工作業礦井或小規模獨立礦井經常發生坍塌事故。
Tanzania gold miners trapped for 41 days rescued
Five gold miners have been rescued in western Tanzania after being trapped underground for 41 days, while 12 others are still missing, police say.
The artisanal miners survived by eating roots, soil, frogs and cockroaches and are receiving treatment at hospital.
The group had gone underground to rescue 11 other miners when they became trapped, police said.
Many people search for gold in unregulated mines in remote areas of Tanzania in the hope of becoming rich.
This is one of the longest periods that miners have remained trapped underground. In Chile, 33 were rescued after 69 days in 2010 in an operation which gained worldwide attention.
Efforts by local people to rescue the Tanzanian miners were abandoned last month after about a week, as hopes of finding them faded, reports the BBC's Alice Muthengi from the main city, Dar es Salaam.
But faint cries alerted other miners working nearby that the group was still trapped underground, and search operations hurriedly resumed at the mine in the north-western Shinyanga region, some 900km (500 miles) west of Dar es Salaam.
The 11 miners who were first trapped, and a colleague who went to search for them, were still missing, and presumed dead, Justus Kamugisha, the police chief for western Tanzania's Kahama district, told the BBC.
The rescued miners were trapped some 100m (300 ft) underground after a shaft collapsed, the mining ministry said, the AFP news agency reports.
"The miners were very weak," Minister of Energy and Mines spokeswoman Badra Masoud is quoted as saying.
"We survived by eating cockroaches, frogs and other insects as well as drinking dirty water that seeped in from above," rescued miner Chacha Wambura told state-owned television.
He added that "batteries of the torches... ran out and we ended up in a cave that we earlier used as a store for our tools", AFP reports.
Every so often, there are reports of miners trapped underground in rural parts of Tanzania which have have gold deposits. Villagers launch a search operation for a few days, and then give up, leaving the men to die.
A similar fate awaited the five - until their cries alerted other miners. They then told the local chief who mobilised the search party which found them.
There are many small gold mines in western Tanzania, most of them dug by villagers - including children.
If they find gold, they sell it to a dealer - and live off the money for a few weeks before going back underground.
The areas where the artisanal gold miners work is largely unregulated, with no health and safety considerations.
This is unlikely to change anytime soon - people have become accustomed to the harsh life on the mines, and hope that one day they will find such a large quantity of gold that it will change their lives forever.