Sichuan miners rescued after 19 days

BEIJING, June 1 (UPI) -- Rescue workers Sunday airlifted two miners stranded in the mountains for 19 days following the May 12 earthquake in China's Sichuan province, officials said.

Government rescue workers reached the trapped miners Saturday. Local accounts said the two men had rice and water to survive, but suffered injuries to their ribs and other limbs, the official Chinese news agency Xinhua reported.

Both men, Mi Chenfu, 51, and Liu Hongku, 45, were airlifted to a hospital near Chengdu, the provincial capital of Sichuan, Sunday morning, officials said.

Chinese soldiers parachuted into the region following a two-day search-and-rescue operation. Bad weather canceled the fights of five helicopters into the region Saturday. A helicopter crashed Sunday during a similar mission.

Chinese authorities put the death toll from the quake at 68,977.