BEIJING (Reuters) – Twenty-one miners have been trapped in a flooded coal mine in the Xinjiang region in northwestern China, the Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported on Sunday, citing a local emergency department.
A portion of the mine filled with water led to power outages just after 6pm (1000 GMT) on Saturday when 29 miners were working on the site in Hutubi province.
Eight miners were taken out.
According to state media Global Times, 12 of the miners trapped have been located and are expected to be rescued.
The position of nine others has been determined, but the condition is unknown, the newspaper said. The 12 are on a platform about 1.2 km below the ground, and the layout of the mine is complicated, which complicates the rescue efforts.
Emergency workers set up several water pumps on the site.
Chinese mines are among the deadliest in the world.
Ten gold miners were confirmed dead in January after an explosion at a mine in Shandong province.
In December, 23 people were killed after being trapped in a mine in the southwestern city of Chongqing. Three months earlier, 16 people had died in the same coal mine.
Reporting by Cate Cadell in Beijing and Sabahatjahan Contractor in Bengaluru; Edited by Jacqueline Wong and William Mallard