CHANGSHA - Sixteen coal miner were trapped in the pit following a colliery flood in central China's Hunan Province late Wednesday afternoon, local authorities said Thursday.

As of 11 am, none of the workers had been pulled out of the pit, an official with the work safety bureau in Leiyang city told Xinhua.

He said the accident happened at 6 pm Wednesday at a colliery in Leiyang's Sandu township.

Rescue work was continuing.

The cause of the flood was not immediately known.