Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao extended their regards to 115 miners late Monday who had been rescued alive after being trapped in a flooded coal mine for over a week.

The two leaders also paid tributes to all the 3,000 rescuers who had been racing the clock to save the 153 trapped people since the flooding happened on March 28 in the Wangjialing Coal Mine in northern Shanxi Province.

Hu and Wen ordered the rescue headquarters to step up efforts and go all out to save the other 38 trapped people.

They also required local health authorities to give the most considerate treatment of the rescued miners.

Altogether 261 miners were working underground when floodwater gushed into the pit of the mine, which was under construction, and 108 were lifted safely to the surface.

(Xinhua News Agency April 5, 2010)