As of 7:00 PM Thursday,the death toll of the coal mine flooding accident in north China's Shanxi Province rose to 17 but the whereabouts of 11 miners are still unknown.

Rescuers are sparing no efforts in search of the missing miners,but they said their survival chances are very slim.

By 5:00 PM Thursday, the flooding water under the shaft had been pumped out and the underground ventilation system resumed operation.

Currently, the rescuers are cleaning the silt under the shaft, which still needs three to five days.

The accident took place at 3:30 PM Saturday in the Fanjiashan Coal Mine, located in the county of Linxian.

Altogether 58 miners were working under the shaft when the flooding took place and only 30 managed to escape.

Officials from the State Administration of Work Safety have already arrived in the county to organize the rescue operation while the investigation team has started to find out the cause of the accident.

The owner of the coal mine has been in custody and the related compensation work is also underway.

(Xinhua News Agency March 24, 2006)