Rescuers found on Wednesday the bodies of other two miners who were trapped in the flooded coal mine in north China's Shanxi Province, raising the death toll to eight.

As of 10:00 PM Wednesday, the whereabouts of 20 other miners still remain unknown.

After more than 100 hours' efforts, the water level in the flooded mine went down by 70 meters and the underground ventilation system resumed operation, which brought convenience tothe rescue operation, said the rescue headquarters.

The accident took place at 3:30 PM Saturday in the FanjiashanCoal Mine, located in the county of Linxian.

Altogether 58 miners were working under the shaft when the flooding took place and only 30 managed to escape.

Officials from the State Administration of Work Safety have already arrived in the county to organize the rescue operation while the investigation team has started to find out the cause of the accident.

(Xinhua News Agency March 23, 2006)