Rescuers have been busy looking for the 10 workers who were trapped in a coal mine cave-in Thursday in Yunnan Province, a local government official said Saturday.

The accident occurred on Thursday afternoon at Tuanjie coal mine in Zhuyuan township of Fuyuan County, said Li Tianming, head of the general office of the county government, in a telephone interview with Xinhua Saturday afternoon.

"The rock layer above the coal bed suddenly collapsed and all the 10 miners working at the scene were trapped," he said.

He said the county government had organized rescue operation immediately after the cave-in, and hundreds of rescuers had been working at the site over the past two days.

"But they've not been able to locate the miners, or to tell whether they're still alive," said Li.

The cause of the accident is under investigation.

(Xinhua News Agency September 11, 2004)