Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption China's CCTV showed footage of the four men being pulled to safety

Four Chinese miners who had been trapped underground for 36 days have been rescued, Chinese state media say.

The men were trapped by a cave-in at a gypsum mine in eastern Shandong province on 25 December.

China's CCTV showed dramatic footage of one of the men appearing on the surface and then being taken to hospital.

In all, 29 people were initially trapped by the collapse: 15 have now been rescued and one confirmed dead, while 13 are still missing.

Owner's suicide

Image copyright AFP Image caption More than 400 rescue and emergency workers were involved in the operation

The four miners - who were detected more than 200 metres (656ft) below the ground - were led to safety late on Friday.

Local media say the men are being examined in a local hospital.

More than 400 rescue and emergency workers were in the operation.

For several weeks, they were tunnelling down to the surviving men, and water and liquids were passed down through a narrow borehole.

On Friday, the miners were winched up - one-by-one - in a specially made capsule.

Footage from inside the mine earlier showed the four men sitting together. One of them was heard saying: "I feel relieved and secure now. We will remember you (rescuers) forever," CCTV reports.

Local official Zhang Shuping hailed the operation.

"What a relief," he said, adding that the rescued miners were in a stable condition.

Mr Zhang said the search for the miners still missing would continue and rescuers would use light detection equipment to try to locate them.

The mine collapse near the town of Pingyi in December was so violent that it registered at China's earthquake monitoring centre.

Longest known survivors in mine accidents

Image copyright AP Image caption "Los 33" - the miners trapped in Copiapo, Chile

69 days - 32 Chileans and one Bolivian trapped after the collapse of the San Jose mine in Chile in 2010

- 32 Chileans and one Bolivian trapped after the collapse of the San Jose mine in Chile in 2010 41 days - five Tanzanians remain underground after a mine caved in in the Shinyanga region, Tanzania, in 2015

- five Tanzanians remain underground after a mine caved in in the Shinyanga region, Tanzania, in 2015 36 days - four men in gypsum mine in China's eastern Shandong province

- four men in gypsum mine in China's eastern Shandong province 14 days - two Australians entombed in Beaconsfield, Tasmania, in 2006

Local media later reported that police had enacted "enforcement measures" against several bosses at Yurong company which owns the mine, while local party officials had been sacked.

The company chairman Ma Congbo, drowned himself by jumping into a mine well several days after the incident.

China has a long history of industrial accidents. This incident came days after a landslide caused by construction waste in southern China left dozens of people missing and presumed dead.

The nation's mines have long been the world's deadliest, but safety improvements have reduced deaths in recent years.

Gypsum is a soft sulphate mineral that is used in building and construction.