A total of 17 workers were trapped in a coal mine hit by flooding Sunday afternoon in Gansu Province, officials said.

Twenty-nine miners were working in Wutao Coal Mine in Shandan County when the accident happened at 1:30 p.m. and 12 were rescued.

A group of officials and experts headed by Deputy Governor Yang Zhiming have rushed to the site for rescue operations, and investigation into the cause of the accident is underway.

Source: Xinhua