Three have been confirmed dead and 25 miners are still missing after a coal mine, which was operating with an expired safety licence, was flooded in Linxian in Luliang, a city in north China's Shanxi Province.

An expert team headed by Jin Zhaoming, an official with the State Administration of Production Safety, arrived at the mine to help the rescue work and the rescue team has recovered three bodies.

The mine that was accidentally flooded on Saturday, Jin said on Sunday adding it is the most serious coal mine accident in China so far this year.

Rescuers are working around the clock pumping water out of the pit and have only slim hopes of finding trapped miners alive, Jin said.

Altogether 58 miners were working in the pit when the Fanjiashan Colliery was flooded at around 3:30 PM Saturday. Thirty of them managed to escape.

Investigators said the mine's safety license had expired.

(Xinhua News Agency March 20, 2006)