Rescuers are preparing further blasting to enable the drilling of a hole 40 meters deep to send food and air to 27 trapped miners who could still be alive after Friday's massive landslide in southwest China.

Rescuers conducted an explosion at 8:07 p.m. Saturday near one entrance of the buried iron ore mine in an effort to reach the shaft.

Rescuers search for survivors at the site where a landslide occured Friday in the Jiwei Mountain area, in Tiekuang Township, about 170 kilometers southeast of the downtown area, southwest China's Chongqing Municipality. Picture taken on June 6, 2009. [Xinhua]

The two entrances of the Jiwei Mountain mine were both buried under rocks when the landslide happened at around 3 p.m. Friday. It also buried an iron ore plant and 12 houses in Tiekuang Township, Wulong County, about 170 kilometers southeast of central Chongqing.

Eight people -- three of them seriously injured -- were rescued late Friday. But 21 residents, the 27 trapped miners and 18 miners who worked above ground, two telecommunications company workers and four passers-by, remain missing.

With sniffer dogs and life detectors, hundreds of rescuers found no signs of life on the debris on Saturday, said a spokesman with the rescue headquarters.

The 27 miners are about 150 to 200 meters below ground. The air and a small amount of water in the mine could support them for five to seven days. Water is believed to exist in the shafts as Jiwei Mountain is mainly made up of limestone, said the spokesman.

Early Sunday, rescuers completed a 28-km road to the site for large machinery such as excavators and bulldozers. Previously, there was only a simple village road.

"We will do our best and use every second to rescue them," said the spokesman, but the mountain was still quite unstable and the rescue operation was dangerous.

"The rock debris just covered the entrance, but there are ditches in the shaft. I believe my husband is still alive," said Chen Yuanmei, a woman at the site.

Chen said she was tending her garden in Hongbao Village, when she saw the rocks slide down and throwing up black dust clouds. The dust lingered around 10 minutes and covered her yard, which is 2 km from the mountain.

She felt something bad had happened and immediately called the mine authorities, but failed to reach them.

Rescuers search for survivors at the site where a landslide occured Friday in the Jiwei Mountain area, in Tiekuang Township, about 170 kilometers southeast of the downtown area, southwest China's Chongqing Municipality. Picture taken on June 6, 2009. [Xinhua]

The Chongqing Land, Resources and Housing Administration has issued an emergency circular urging districts and counties to organize professional teams to launch a thorough inspection of geological disaster-prone areas.

Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang inspected the site early Saturday, asking rescuers to try their best while avoiding secondary disasters. Experts have been asked to investigate the cause of the landslide.

(Xinhua News Agency June 7, 2009  )