3 miners rescued; 2 bodies found
Rescuers found the bodies of two miners in a flooded gold mine in the northern Philippines today, following the dramatic rescue a day earlier of three others who had been trapped for nine days. One miner remained missing.
Rescuers applauded and high-fived each other Wednesday as the three survivors were carried out on stretchers from two separate locations about 700 feet underground in the mountain township of Itogon, said George Baywong, a Mines and Geosciences Bureau officer supervising rescue efforts.
The three were listed in stable condition and undergoing tests in a hospital. Six other survivors were rescued Monday and Tuesday, and the bodies of two who had died were found separately before dawn today, he said. Four others were found dead in earlier search operations.
The rescued miners managed to survive by standing on a ledge or seeking refuge in elevated portions of the tunnel where there was enough oxygen to keep them alive. They survived on dripping rainwater collected in plastic containers.
BERLIN
Dresden death toll revised to 25,000
The Allied firebombing of the eastern German city of Dresden in 1945 killed no more than 25,000 people – far fewer than scholars’ previous estimates running as high as 135,000 – a special commission has found.
The team of a dozen experts, including university professors, archivists and military historians, said Wednesday that four years of research so far has confirmed 18,000 deaths and showed that police and city administrators at the time believed there were about 25,000 victims of the bombing.
Since the end of World War II, scholars have varied in their tally of people killed by waves of British and U.S. bombers on Feb. 13-14, 1945. Some estimates have run to 135,000 or more.
MUMBAI, India
Film industry workers strike
The shining lights of Bollywood went dark Wednesday as actors, technicians and cameramen struck to demand better pay and overtime, halting dozens of movies and television productions.
A coalition of 22 unions representing than 100,000 technicians, dancers and other film workers ordered their members not to show up for work, indefinitely shuttering one of the world’s most prolific movie industries.
More than 200 Hindi-language films are produced every year in Mumbai, home of India’s film industry known as Bollywood.
But while the films portray a world of glamour and feature lush production numbers, working conditions on the sets are notoriously poor. Workers who build movie sets or handle lighting get paid about $11 for long days without overtime.