Rescuers have saved three of the five miners trapped in a colliery cave-in that killed two miners in northeast China on Wednesday.

The three miners were brought out of the pit at about 8 p.m. and taken to hospital, where doctors said they were out of danger.

Rescuers were searching for the remaining two trapped miners, one of whom was confirmed to be alive, a rescue headquarters spokesman said.

A tremor occurred around 9:20 a.m. on Wednesday in the Hengda coal mine in Fuxin City, Liaoning Province. It caused the collapse of a 20-meter section of a tunnel, trapping seven people working at the site, according to the provincial coal industry administration and company sources.

Rescuers had recovered the bodies of two miners.

The local seismological station put the tremor's magnitude at 1.7 on the Richter scale.

The mine belongs to the Fuxin Mining Industry (Group) Co. Ltd. The cause of the tremor remains unclear.

(Xinhua News Agency July 31, 2008)