At least 14 people were confirmed dead when a swelling river flooded a colliery in central China's Hunan Province Saturday, rescuers said on Monday.

Among the dead were a miner on duty, seven technicians who were in the pit for emergency rescue operations, as well as six workers who were trapped in collapsed houses and flooded pump rooms, said the emergency rescue headquarters at the Shenjiawan Colliery of the Hongwei Mining Co. in Hengyang.

Continuous rainstorm swelled the upper reaches of the Leishui River in Leiyang city and destroyed the dams of a reservoir close to the colliery on Saturday.

Rescuers tried to pump water out of the pit Saturday and Sunday with four pumping machines, but had to give up rescue efforts Sunday evening after roaring flood water drowned the entire pit.

The state-run Shenjiawan Colliery was put into operation in 1966 and produces 150,000 tons a year.

To date, 92 people in Hunan Province are confirmed dead and more than 100 are reported missing in rainstorms and flood accompanying the tropical storm Bilis, according to the local government.

At least 2.3 million others in the central province were affected by the disastrous weather that hit the cities of Binzhou, Hengyang and Yongzhou in the past three days.

The Leishui River, a branch of the Xiangjiang River, is experiencing the worst flood of the past century with the water level rocketing 10.11 meters between Friday and Sunday to hit record high.

(Xinhua News Agency July 17, 2006)