Seven miners are trapped underground in a coal mine in Jiangxi Province after a water leakage in the early hours of yesterday morning.

Local safety officials said the rescue team had been working around the clock to pump out water to save their lives.

The accident took place at Fengshan Coal Mine in the province's Leping city.

The mine had stopped production while it underwent technical refurbishments and only seven miners were working underground when the accident occurred. "We are not sure about their fate," said the official.

This month all of the province's small-scale mines had stopped production for technical improvements.

The local safety watchdog has stipulated that a maximum of nine miners are allowed to enter the mines on every shift

Meanwhile, President Hu Jintao reiterated on Monday that close attention and concrete efforts were needed to ensure safe production across all industries, and officials in charge should always "put people first."

At a meeting of the Communist Party of China Central Committee Political Bureau, Hu said economic and social progress could not be achieved at the price of people's lives or the destruction of the environment.

He called on production units to fully abide by production rules, and local governments to shoulder the responsibility as supervisors.

(China Daily March 30, 2006)