A mudslide on Sunday afternoon trapped the men without food and with limited oxygen inside an 80-metre long tunnel 130m underground for 58 hours.

The workers were sent to a nearby hospital for treatment after being brought to the surface.

Meanwhile, the death toll in a separate explosion in north-eastern China rose to 17 after Monday’s blast at a mine shaft in Heilongjiang province.

Altogether 17 bodies have been found, with one worker discovered alive when rescuers were looking for a different missing person.