Local disaster official Abdul Muin Paputungan said an excavator began working on the site Friday morning after relatives gave permission and a path was cleared through steep jungle terrain.
India's slow progress in rescuing 15 trapped coal miners in Meghalaya state has been contrasted with the dramatic rescue of 12 Thai boys and their football coach from a cave last July. Some have called the operation to reach the miners "shameful."
A total of 87 people were working underground in the Shaanxi province mine at the time of the accident on Saturday afternoon.
India's Supreme Court slams authorities for failure to pull out 15 workers trapped for 21 days in a flooded coal mine in remote Meghalaya state. Critics say lessons were not learnt from successful Thai cave operation.
The Siirt governor's office says rescue workers are battling to save the trapped miners.
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