Ten people were buried underground after a cave-in at an iron mine in Fanchang County in east China's Anhui Province on Wednesday afternoon, local authorities said.

The accident took place at about 12:30 p.m. at an iron mine owned by the Masteel Group, a major steel maker in the country, said a Provincial Work Safety Administration spokesman.

Rescuers were struggling to save the buried people, believed to be local residents. It was not clear whether they were alive, the spokesman said.

The cave-in zone had been abandoned by the company before the accident, but local residents often went there for illegal mining, he added.

(Xinhua News Agency June 26, 2008)