The miners fought to escape from the shaft while rescuers outside struggled to reopen the pit head, Yan Chenglu, deputy secretary-general of the Lanzhou city government, said at the rescue site.

The miners dug an eight-meter-long tunnel with a diameter of about one meter with spades, bars and other tools they found in the mine shaft, said Yan.

The miners appeared to be in good physical condition when they stepped out of the pit and were sent to hospital for a medical check.

"We guessed it was a landslide and not a gas blast or flood because there was no water and no smell of gas in the shaft," a rescued miner called Wang told Xinhua.

Wang, the last miner to emerge from the blocked mine, is receiving treatment at Honggu District hospital in Lanzhou, where the coal mine is located.

"We were frightened at the beginning, but we soon calmed down because we knew we were not far from ground surface," said Wang. "I told myself we can definitely get out safely."

"Later, we heard the sound of excavators digging and that boosted our morale enormously," he said.

The miners spent more than 14 hours digging their "tunnel of life".

"It's so wonderful to be able to see our families and colleagues again," said Wang.

An estimated 1.4 million cubic meters of mud slid and blocked the mouths of the main pit in Deshun Coal Mine Fields at around 10a.m. Wednesday, trapping all the 16 miners underground, and burying a number of houses.