Zhang Haichao said he felt like both a winner and loser when he finally received the occupational pneumoconiosis diagnosis he should have had two years ago.

The diagnosis meant the 28-year-old Henan native, whose lungs are now black and near petrified, will be able to access free treatment for the deadly disease and compensation from his former employer, a brick factory in Zhengzhou.

Four of Zhang's former colleagues were also diagnosed as having pneumoconiosis, or 'black lung', yesterday, the China News Service reported yesterday.