One of the 19 injured died on Monday after emergency treatment failed. Two bodies were found late on Monday night after more than 200 rescuers were dispatched to search for the trapped workers, said Tan Zhengbiao, general manager of China Railway 16th Group Co Ltd, the tunnel builders.

However, the rescue headquarters reduced the size of the rescue team yesterday afternoon after deciding there was almost no possibility of survival for the seven trapped.

Rescuers are still searching the tunnels, repairing shafts that have caved in, pumping out water and clearing up the silt underground. The runoff inside the tunnel was three cubic meters per second yesterday afternoon.

Experts and rescuers said the workers were probably buried by mud and rocks at two underground locations.

A special team will investigate the accident.

A group of officials, headed by Wang Dexue, vice director of the State Administration of Work Safety, visited the workers at the Minzu hospital Monday afternoon, offering 1,000 yuan (US$132) to each of the injured.