All reporters, rescuers and officials held a moment of silence for the 10 miners during a news conference on Monday. (Photo:GT)

Ten miners trapped in a goldmine in Qixia, East China’s Shandong Province, are confirmed dead, after 11 were successfully rescued on Sunday, an on-site rescuer confirmed to the Global Times. One trapped miner is still missing and search efforts for him are underway.

After bringing back 11 miners as of 3:18 pm Sunday, rescuers went down into the goldmine and saw the bodies of 10 miners. All have lost signs of life, chief on-site rescue expert Du Bingjian told the Global Times on Sunday.

All reporters, rescuers, and officials held a moment of silence for the 10 miners during the news conference on Monday.

Judging by the bodies, some of the miners starved to death, and some died from injuries from the explosion, Du said.

One trapped miner is still missing and search efforts are underway.

Goldmine rescue team leader explains details of obstacle clearance, at a press conference on Monday in Yantai, East China's Shandong Province. (Photo: Cui Meng/GT)

Previously, clearance work had encountered great difficulties, but on Sunday morning, a huge obstacle blocking the well suddenly fell to the bottom of the shaft, allowing rescue work to take a big step forward, after which the rescuers brought up 11 miners.

As the obstacles were cleared, rescuers were allowed to go down into the goldmine to the Sixth Central Section, where it was believed the other miners were located. The body of one miner was found in the Sixth Central Section. Eight miners were found in the Third Central Section and the Fourth Central Section, which were closer to the ground.

According to previous reports, the 11 miners were working at the Sixth Central Section when the explosion took place. They could have tried to move up the shaft and closer to the ground.

The goldmine explosion took place on January 10. A total of 22 miners were trapped underground, but the accident was only reported to the local authorities 30 hours later.

Top rescue teams and equipment were quickly summoned to the city for all-out rescue efforts, which has been going on for 14 days.