Two bodies have been recovered from a flooded coal mine in Yiyang City, central China's Henan Province, as of 4:20 Thursday morning, rescuers said.

The dead miners were identified as Chen Qifeng and Zhu Guoquan. The fate of six other trapped miners remained unknown, they said.

The flooding occurred at 10:00 am Wednesday at Hongxing coal mine in Jiayu town when the miners set off explosives.

Previously, the water level in the coal mine was 3.2 meters and currently, the water level has dropped to 0.9 meters, said rescuers.

Rescue work had been going on slowly because of the high water level inside the shaft and muddy coal that impaired laneway.

Local police said they had detained several people for further investigation, but declined to say how many were arrested.

Local sources said there had been repeated requests from security officials to stop prospecting at the flooded coal mine as it was too close to another deserted mine nearby. But the mine owner Gao Mingli rejected all such requests and ordered miners to continue prospecting underground Wednesday morning.

The mine was flooded after miners ignited the first explosive underground, releasing a great amount of water into the shaft from the deserted mine.

(Xinhua News Agency June 3, 2004)