On Nov. 27, three grave scavengers were buried alive after a cave-in occurred at an ancient grave site in Baoji, Shaanxi province. Although the local fire department quickly responded to the emergency, the lives of the men could not be saved.

The fire department received the emergency call at around 9 p.m., dispatching 14 firefighters and two rescue vehicles to deal with the incident. The rescue team used bare hands instead of tools to search for the buried men, for fear of accidentally injuring them with metal equipment. All three bodies were eventually recovered.

The ancient grave was first located by a construction team. After finding two rusty swords and one iron vessel in the soil around the site, the contractor contacted the local cultural relics management department, which sent experts to the site and found that the grave dated back to the Tang Dynasty. Word soon spread to nearby villages, and many villagers came to see the site for themselves.