ENSHI -- Thirty-five of the 52 trapped workers have been rescued after a rail tunnel under construction was flooded in central China's Hubei Province, sources with local work safety officials said on Sunday.

The flooding accident occurred at around 3:00 a.m. Sunday at the Yesanguan rail tunnel in Enshi Tu and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, which trapped a total of 52 workers in the middle of the tunnel.

Earlier reports said 38 workers were trapped in the accident. The rescue efforts on the rest 17 trapped workers are under way.

According to rescue officials, they have got into contacts with the trapped workers in the tunnel and they are now in stable condition with no imminent life danger.

Heavy rains have triggered severe flooding and mudslides across many areas of central China in recent weeks.

The tunnel is along the Yiwan Railway, linking Yichang in Hubei Province and Wanzhou in Chongqing Municipality, southwest China.

Running through nine cites and counties in mountainous areas, the 377-km railway has a total of 121 tunnels and 179 bridges, making up more than 70 percent of its total length.

With an investment of 16.7 billion yuan (about 2.2 billion U.S. dollars), the construction on the railway started in January 2004 and will complete at the end of 2008.

The double-track railway is designed to allow passenger trains running at speeds of up to 160 km per hour.