Eighteen miners were still trapped at press time in a coal mine that flooded Thursday in Dengfeng city of central China's Henan province.

A team of 700 rescuers has been working hard in shifts since the accident occurred in Changda coal mine at 2:40 p.m. Thursday. The rescue workers had reached 36 meters underground by press time, 13 meters away from the trapped miners and pipes were being sent underground to provide fresh air.

It would take them 24 more hours to reach the miners, but there was still possibility for the miners to survive, said Chen Huaixin, deputy director of Dengfeng Coal Bureau.

The flooded Changda coal mine began operation in 1997 and had no legal license, according to sources with the rescue team.

It was the second coal mine accident in three months in Dengfeng city, said Qiao. The first accident occurred at Dengfeng coal mine in Baiping township on July 13, killing all 21 trapped workers.

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