Rescuers said two miners' bodies were found Monday morning in a fluorite mine in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region flooded Thursday, while six others were still missing.

Rescue work was hampered by the high water level and collapsed rocks underground, according to the rescue headquarters.

The accident took place at the Jinfeng Fluorite Mine in the city of Chifeng at around 10 AM on March 31, when water drenched the 750-meter-long shaft passage. Nine miners were working 120 meters underground, but only one managed to escape.

"I was laying rails with my colleagues when strong currents of water rushed into the tunnel and the lamps went out immediately," recalled Wang Sheng, 44, the survivor.

Wang, who was washed away by the water, was fortunate enough to grasp a wooden ladder and was later saved by the rescuers on Thursday afternoon.

"The chance of survival for the missing is slim after being trapped for four days, but we will not give up the rescue effort," said Wang Shihua, deputy director of the rescue headquarters.

Wang said the mining area, where the Jinfeng Fluorite Mine lies, has a history of more than 70 years. There are three other mines in operation in the area.

"Most tunnels of the mines communicate with each other. We have expanded our searching areas because the missing might have been swept into other mines," he said.

(Xinhua News Agency April 4, 2005)