not a patent of china, also in the US

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'Miraculous' rescue for US miners  

Cheers broke out among relatives at the news
Twelve men trapped underground since an explosion in a US mine on Monday have been found alive, officials say.
Bells at a church in the state of West Virginia where relatives had gathered rang out with the news just before midnight on Tuesday (0500GMT).

Earlier, state governor Joe Manchin said it would take nothing short of a miracle to save the men.

The news came a few hours after the body of one man was found near the site of the explosion.

Officials said the man who died, who has not yet been identified, appeared to have been dropped off in a mine car by his colleagues and was close to the explosion site.

The 12 miners are thought to been further down the mine, more than 200ft (61m) underground, at the time of the blast.

Toxic gas

Kay Weaver, whose brother-in-law Jack Weaver was in the mine, said family members learned of the rescue when a man burst into church, shouting: "It's a miracle, it's a miracle!".

"They told us they have 12 alive," Gov Manchin said.

The miners "are being moved to the surface, and their condition is being assessed while they are being moved", his spokesman Tom Hunter said.

Relatives and friends cried and embraced each other at the news. Emergency vehicles and ambulances were at the scene. A local hospital was on high alert.


It has been a long wait for news

There had been no communication with the men in the Sago mine since Monday morning, and there are no reports on their condition.

Television reports say the men will be reunited with their families at the church in a few hours.

Officials had expressed concern at dangerously high levels of carbon monoxide underground.

The miners had with them a day's worth of food and water supplies, and were equipped with individual air purifying systems that would give them up to seven hours of clean air, officials had said.

Mining company head Ben Hatfield said earlier that there was a chance the miners had managed to take shelter from the toxic gas levels, after their mine car was found empty.

The cause of the blast is unclear.

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Hopes fading at German ice rink  

Wide view of the collapsed building and rescue work


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Rescue workers have retrieved a further body from a collapsed ice rink in southern Germany, raising the death toll in the tragedy to 12.
While emergency crews worked through the night in the hope of locating survivors, the chances of finding anyone alive are now seen as slim.

According to reports, the body found on Wednesday was a child. Six children are already known to be among the dead.

On Tuesday evening, shocked residents of Bad Reichenhall held a vigil.

The search for survivors had been temporarily postponed on Tuesday amid fears that an outer wall could collapse on rescue workers.

  


Pressing safety questions  

It resumed during the night after heavy lifting equipment was brought in to help secure the building, and the body was found shortly after.

On Tuesday, officials said that a woman and three children were still believed to be trapped under the rubble.

It had been suggested that the gaps within the snow and ice at the rink could generate an "igloo effect", with warm pockets of air where a human could survive.

Young victims

Bavarian Prime Minister Edmund Stoiber toured the site on Tuesday, describing the scene as "shocking, I've got no words for it".

Six children aged between nine and 12 were among the bodies retrieved. A 35-year-old woman was killed, as well as two teenagers. Two further bodies were carried out of the building early on Tuesday afternoon.

Of the estimated 50 people at the rink at the time, more than 30 people were injured, and more than 10 are still in hospital.

Initial reports suggested the roof caved in after heavy snowfall, but local officials said the roof had been examined on Monday and that the amount of snow was below the building's limit.

Nonetheless, town officials had planned to close the rink at the end of Monday. German police have begun an official inquiry into the accident.



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Are you in the area where the accident happened? Send us your eyewitness accounts.

I was traveling along the road and saw many many emergency craft. I was curious so I followed them. I was astonished when I arrived at their destination. The roof of the skating rink had collapsed. I watched as people milled about outside clearly in shock. I heard screams of pain from both inside and out. It was horrible.
Fredrick Koch, Munich, Germany


As we are near Bad Reichenhall, our rescue teams also came to help and search for the missing people. Also in Salzburg three buildings collapsed. But we had luck and nobody was in it. As I am a Icehockey-Fan, I was yesterday at the game between Salzburg and Linz. Our ice rink also was closed the whole afternoon. But then the fire department cleared the blanket from the snow. We made a "minute of silence" for the dead people in Bad Reichenhall. The whole of Austria is with you.
Thomas Esterer, Salzburg, Austria



   

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US mine 'rescue' turns to tragedy  
  


News conference  
Only one of the 12 trapped miners found in a US coal mine on Wednesday has survived, company officials say.
The company chief said only one man - critically ill and rushed to hospital - had been found alive by rescuers, just hours after all were reported safe.

The company named the survivor as 26-year-old Randal McCloy Junior.

Relatives had celebrated in a local church after being told that the rescuers had found all 12 men alive in an air pocket in the mine.

'We need answers'

"Everybody is stunned," said Sam Lands, the brother-in-law of Martin Bennet, who had been in the mine.

"I thought I was going to pass out. I couldn't believe it. We've been lied to all along. We need answers."

COAL MINE DISASTER
Monday 0640 (1140 GMT) - Explosion causes collapse
1800 (approx) - Rescuers sent in
Tuesday 0730 - Air quality tests said to be 'discouraging'
2100 - Families say one body found
2350 - Families say 12 miners found alive
Wednesday 0250 - Reports emerge that just one miner alive
0310 - Mine officials confirm only one survivor

Ben Hatfield, president of mine operators International Coal Group, said: "We are incredibly saddened by the horrific loss."

"This is certainly not the outcome we had hoped for and prayed for," he said.

He said earlier news that the 12 men had been found alive was "bad information".

He said he believed the men had survived the explosion and gone to what they thought was a safe area.

They are then thought to have been poisoned by toxic fumes.


Earlier reports had said 12 of the men had survived

Mr Hatfield said: "What happened is that through stray cellphone conversations it appears that this miscommunication from the rescue team underground to the command centre was picked up by various people... was relayed through cellphone communications without our ever having made a release.

"International Coal Group never made any release about all 12 of the miners being alive and well, we simply couldn't confirm that at that point.

"But that information spread like wildfire because it had come from the command centre but it was a bad information."

He believed relatives had believed the miners were alive for 20 minutes before being told the news.

West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin had earlier praised news of the men's rescue from the Sago mine as a "miracle".

Earlier, rescuers had found the body of a 13th miner left in a mine cart some 3000 metres inside the mine.

The men had been trapped in the mine after an explosion on Monday. The cause of the blast is not yet known.



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