Nine Chinese miners, who have been trapped for 15 days, have been confirmed dead, AFP reported, quoting state media. 

An explosion at the Hushan mine in Shandong province on January 10 trapped 22 miners underground. 11 miners were pulled out on Sunday and rescue operations were underway to locate the remaining miners. 

“From Sunday afternoon to this afternoon, rescue workers have not stopped searching, and found a further nine trapped miners who unfortunately all died,” the mayor of Yantai city, Chen Fei, said, AFP reported. 

“Along with one miner who died on Thursday, the bodies of the nine deceased miners were all lifted out of the mine,” Chen Fei added. 

Rescue teams will not stop searching until the last remaining miner is found, Chen added.