Four miners were trapped Friday in a flooded coal mine of some 165 meters underground in the eastern China province of Shandong, a local source confirmed on Saturday.

Altogether 23 miners were working in the Kunlun mine when it was flooded with about 3,000 cubic meters of water at 5:10 p.m., said Zhu Deming, chief engineer of the Zibo Mining Group, to which the mine belongs.

Zhu said 19 of the miners were evacuated to the ground within two hours after the flooding, and rescuers were draining water from the mine at the speed of 180 cubic meters per hour, hoping to evacuate the trapped four.

He said that the accident occurred due to inadequate information about the geological structure of the underground area and lack of water probing measures.

However, the accident caused no damage to the mine's drainage, ventilation or lifting systems, he said.

With a proven reserve of 500,000 tons of coal, the mine, located in Kunlun town of Zichuan district, Zibo city, was put into operation in 1993 and produces 60,000 tons of coal annually.
 
(Xinhua News Agency April 3, 2004)