Fire fighters work at the coal mine fire site where 28 miners are still trapped underground while 63 others have escaped as of Thursady morning, July 7, 2011.Rescue work is still underway.[Photo/Xinhua]

JINAN -- Twenty-eight miners are still trapped underground while 63 others have escaped as of Thursday morning after a coal mine fire in east China's Shandong Province on Wednesday, local authorities said.

A total of 91 people were trapped after an air compression device at a parking lot 255 meters underground caught fire at 6:45 p.m. Wednesday, said a spokesman of the provincial government.

As of 7:30 a.m. Thursday, 63 miners have been rescued.

Rescue work is still underway. An investigation into the cause of the fire has been launched.

An expert team headed by Luo Lin, head of State Administration of Work Safety, as well as major provincial officials including the province's Communist Party of China chief Jiang Yikang, have arrived at the mine to oversee the rescue work.

The mine belongs to Zaozhuang Fangbei Coal Mine Co. Ltd. in Xuecheng District in Zaozhuang City.

The licensed coal mine is a low gas mine which had completed technical revamp in June 2010 to expand production capacity to 150,000 tonnes a year. The work passed check of approval in October the same year.