A coal mine collapsed on Wednesday in north China's coal-rich Shanxi Province, trapping seven miners working underground, local authorities said.

The accident happened at about 1:20 PM at the Liujialiang Coal Mine in Xinzhou City, according to a spokesman of the Shanxi Provincial Coal Mine Safety Administration.

He said local authorities are organizing rescue efforts and provided no more details.

The coal mine is owned by the Xuangang Coal and Power Company under the Datong Coal Mine Group.

19 days of searching find no sign of 181 trapped miners

Rescuers have not found signs of the 181 miners trapped in two flooded coal mines in east China's Shandong Province after 19 days of searching, but they were still pumping water out of the shafts on Wednesday.

By 6 PM on Wednesday, the rescuers had dug 382 meters below the ground surface and needed to break through another three meters of soil before they reach the working passage, said sources with the rescue headquarters.

Meanwhile, they were consolidating the entrance of the mine shaft that had suffered an unexpected collapse on Tuesday. The collapse impeded the rescue efforts.

Flood water swept through a 65-meter wide breach in the Wenhe River levee on Aug. 17, inundating the Huayuan and Minggong mines in Xintai, leaving 181 miners trapped underground, including 172 miners from Huayuan Coal Mine.

Despite slim chances of survival for the miners, rescuers have been digging an extra 385-meter-deep hole in hopes of reaching the working platform where most of the 172 miners were trapped in Huayuan.

Twelve water pumps have been used to extract water from the two flooded coal mines A total of 1.57 million cubic meters of water has been pumped out to date.

By Wednesday evening, the water level of Huyuan coal mine had fallen to 25.38 meters, 67.22 meters down from the previous level. Rescuers have to reduce the water level by 55.38 meters in order to reach the nearest location where some of the 172 miners might be trapped.

(Xinhua News Agency September 6, 2007)