Nine miners were working in the illegal mine in Wangjiaqiao, Leping City, in east China's Jiangxi Province when the flooding occurred. Two miners were rescued but the fate of the remaining seven is uncertain.
The Provincial Bureau of Coal Mine Safety sent a team of professionals to the site to assist in rescue work and an investigation into the cause of the accident is underway.
The incident mirrors last week’s flooding of an Indian mine in which 14 workers remain trapped after the roof collapsed at the Saunda mine in Jharkhand.
Twelve people, including Central Coalfields chief managing director R P Ritolia, have been charged with attempted murder and negligence for that accident.
Dewatering of the mine continued over the weekend but there was no news of the missing miners.
