The death toll of a coal mine blast that occurred Tuesday evening in Wuhai City of north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, rose to five by Wednesday noon, and chances of survival are slim for seven others still trapped underground, rescuers said.

Thirteen miners were working underground at the Kanghai Coal Mine in Hainan District of Wuhai City when the accident took place at 21:05 Tuesday. One escaped from the scene shortly after the accident. Hearing reports, leading officials of Wuhai City and Hainan District rushed to the spot to launch a quick response system and set up rescue headquarters.

The Kanghai Coal Mine is individually-run. Built in 1993, the coal mine has an annual production capacity of 30,000 tons. When the accident occurred, the coal mine was undergoing technological upgrading.

Rescue of the trapped workers is still going on.

Meanwhile, five miners were still trapped in a flooded coal mine in Longxipu Town in Xinshao County in central China's Hunan Province, the local government said Wednesday.

Rescuers still have to drain water from the tunnel for about nine hours before they could enter the tunnel, according to local rescue headquarters.

The accident occurred at 10:00 AM Tuesday in Tangbian Coal Mine and some miners fled from the disaster, but five local miners were trapped.

The water level underground has been reduced by 13 meters and rescuers estimated the trapped miners would have about 15 cubic meters of space in the worst situation and that they have a "great chance" to survive.

(Xinhua News Agency April 27, 2005)