(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-07-30 20:56

SHANXIAN, Henan Province -- Rescuers are maintaining phone contact with 69 miners who have been trapped in a flooded coal mine in central China's Henan Province since Sunday morning.

Experts are trying to send food and drinking water through the 800-meter-long ventilation pipes to the miners, who were working below ground when the flood triggered by rainstorms hit the region at around 8:40 a.m. on Sunday.

The trapped miners have not reported any injuries to rescuers through the fixed line phone, but asked for food and water at 3:00 p.m.

The area where the miners are trapped is dry and still has electricity, but ventilation was poor.

Just 33 of the 102 miners working underground at the time managed to escape the Zhijian Coal Mine, in Shanxian County, Sanmenxia City, about 200 kilometers west of Henan's provincial capital Zhengzhou.

The floodwater was said to have come from a nearby river.

Hundreds of rescuers, including armed police, are struggling to prevent more water entering the shaft, clearing away the silt, and providing ventilation and oxygen to the trapped miners.

This state-owned mine was established in 1958. It was designed to produce 210,000 tons a year, but its actual annual output is 300,000 tons.

Senior officials have arrived at the site to oversee rescue work, including Xu Guangchun, secretary of the Henan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, Li Chengyu, governor of Henan, Li Yizhong, director of the State Administration of Work Safety, and Zhao Tiechui, director of the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety.