A total of 17 workers were trapped in a coal mine hit by flooding Sunday afternoon in Gansu Province, officials said.

Twenty-nine miners were working in Wutao Coal Mine in Shandan County when the accident happened at 1:30 pm and 12 were rescued.

A group of officials and experts headed by Deputy Governor Yang Zhiming have rushed to the site for rescue operations, and investigation into the cause of the accident is underway.

(Xinhua News Agency May 23, 2004)