Rescuers are struggling to reach five miners trapped in a coal mine following a coal and gas outburst early Tuesday in northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

The accident took place at about 4:00 a.m. at the Xinglong Coal Mine under construction in Hancheng City, when five miners were clearing an tunnel underground, a spokesman with the city government said.

The coal mine, yet to be put into operation, is run by the Yi'an Coal Mine affiliated to the Xuzhou Mining Business Group Co. Ltd. in eastern Jiangsu Province. It is designed to produce 300,000 tons of coal per year.

The spokesman provided no further details.

Outbursts are a phenomenon characterized by ejection of gas and coal from the solid face into the mine, where the gas is a mixture of methane and carbon dioxide.

Separately, a gas fire killed three miners in another coal mine in Hancheng Monday morning, with another miner escaped unhurt.

(Xinhua News Agency December 12, 2007)