Jiaohe, Jilin - Rescuers raced against time to try to locate 12 miners trapped in a flooded colliery in northeast China's Jilin Province on Saturday, more than 20 hours after the accident.

A total of 3,000 cubic meters of water has been pumped out from the tunnel of Fengxing coal mine in Jiaohe City, but the 12 miners remained missing, said Ma Hui, deputy major of Jiaohe, who is coordinating the rescue work.

Rescuers enter the coal mine to rescue those left trapped on April 6. [Photo/Xinhua]

More water pumps are being deployed to double the volume of water pumped out from the shaft to 620 cubic meters per hour later Saturday, Ma said.

The flooding occurred at 10:50 am Friday when water from a neighboring colliery flooded Fengxing coal mine. Fifty-eight of 70 workers in the mine managed to escape.

More than 300 mine rescuers, 350 police and firemen and 75 medical workers joined the rescue work.