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25 rescued after tunnel collapses in China

All 25 road workers trapped after a tunnel collapsed in southwest China were rescued Tuesday, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
/ Source: The Associated Press

All 25 road workers trapped after a tunnel collapsed in southwest China were rescued Tuesday, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

The workers were trapped for 26 hours after the collapse occurred early Monday on a highway linking Guangnan and Yanshan, cities in Yunnan province.

Xinhua did not say if any of the workers were injured.

"The rescuers managed to get into the tunnel and get the trapped people out," Xinhua said.

Six ambulances transported them to a nearby hospital, it said.

Lu Ying, a spokeswoman with the Guangnan Work Safety Bureau, said 26 people had been in the tunnel when it collapsed but one managed to escape.

Fresh air, food and drink were being provided to the remaining workers in the 164-foot-long tunnel, she said.

Yunnan's local Life Express newspaper said on its Web site that one of the construction company's drivers, Li Zhiyong, said he noticed a fissure inside the tunnel that had grown wider every day.

The paper reported that 30 local firefighters as well as 200 construction and railway workers had been sent to help with the rescue work.

Xinhua said the cause of the collapse was under investigation.