We know the details and it’s hard to believe that this is possible.
The story of the rescue of the Chinese miner Chung Wai seems fantastic. This 42-year-old man was among the miners buried as a result of the earthquake, and survived in tunnels for almost twenty years.
As you know, in 1997, western China was shaken by a powerful, almost eight-point earthquake. The coal mine in which Chung Wai worked was almost at the epicenter. Out of almost two hundred miners, only 51 were brought to the surface, rescuers could not reach the rest. After a while, the search stopped altogether. The man was the only survivor, because at the time of the shock he was next to a reinforced ventilation shaft.
Most of his comrades died immediately, as a result of the collapse of structures. It is reported that he survived with a supply of food made just for such a case in an underground special department. Over time, Chung Wai learned to hunt rats and insects, and also included in his survival diet weakly phosphorescent moss growing on the walls of the tunnels.
A few years ago, the local authorities decided to reactivate the mine. Imagine their amazement when they found an exhausted and weakened underground “Robinson” in one of the tunnels. The man hardly spoke, and his mental state caused rescuers much more concerns than physical infirmity. The respect for his will to live is no less . Chung Wai said that he believed until recently that his trials were temporary.
The man kept hoping for salvation and equipping his place. He tried to keep fit, to perform a set of exercises daily and entertained himself with songs. He had lost track of time for a long time and had been sleeping more and more lately. The rescue of Chang Wai caused a wide resonance, the best doctors of the Celestial Empire took care of his rehabilitation.
The unexpected resurrection of the miner particularly shocked his relatives, who had long resigned themselves to his death. The man had to learn to live anew in a world that had changed in seventeen years.
