Seventeen miners in Lianyuan, a city in central Hunan Province, have been missing since Wednesday when a flood hit a State-run coal mine where 24 people were working underground, according to the State Administration of Work Safety.

Li Zhongcai, an engineer at the mine, said the rescuers were attempting to pump water out of the pit and clear away silt.

They were also racing against time to try and dig a channel through a layer of rock in a bid to send air to the miners, Li said.

Seven workers escaped from the pit when the flooding occurred.

In northern Shanxi Province, 14 miners remain trapped after a heavy storm caused rainwater to inundate the Jiangshuiping village coal mine on Thursday, provincial Work Safety Bureau sources say.

Six others survived and more than 500 people were helping in the rescue effort, according to the rescue headquarters in Guxian County, where the village is located.

Water in the pit had not been drained by Sunday evening.

Meanwhile, in the southwestern province of Yunnan, five minors were confirmed dead, four others injured and three missing after an explosion ripped through the Huaxing coal mine on Thursday in Qujing, according to the provincial Work Safety Bureau.

In Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, six workers died and five were still missing after two other mining accidents on Friday.

(China Daily April 21, 2003)