Rescuers are trying to save 21 miners trapped since the weekend in a flooded coal pit in central China, the official Xinhua news agency said.
Half of the 42 miners working in the underground shaft when flood water started pouring in on Sunday had managed to escape, it said.
Flood water in the Dongfeng Coal Mine's main corridor had been pumped out, and rescue workers were reinforcing passages.
China's coal-mining industry is one of the most dangerous in the world. Some 7,000 people were killed in mine accidents last year, state media said.
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Seasonal flooding across the country has killed more than 570 people this year and forced the evacuation of 2.3 million.