Six Chinese miners are reported to be recovering in hospital after spending twenty-seven days trapped underground after their mine caved in.

Officials say the men survived by drinking water that was seeping in through the mine shaft, and by eating their leather belts.

One of the miners was in a coma by the time they were found by rescuers, but all are now described as being out of danger following treatment.

The accident was the latest in a series of disasters in China's notoriously dangerous mines.

According to official figures, some two thousand miners died in accidents last year.