MORE than 100 Chinese miners were pulled out alive yesterday after being trapped for over a week in a flooded coal mine, where some ate sawdust and strapped themselves to the shafts’ walls with their belts to avoid drowning while they slept.

Dozens of Chinese coal miners were pulled out alive today after being trapped for more than a week in a flooded shaft, sparking cheers among hundreds of rescue workers who had raced to save them and almost given up hope.