9 Chinese people trapped in N China colliery flooding

China is undertaking rescue work to pluck nine miners from a colliery in north China's Shanxi province that flooded early on Friday morning. As of 10 a.m., the miners were trapped in Shanfu Coal Mine, in Xiangyuan county of Changzhi, according to the Changzhi municipal government. Professional rescuers from a nearby mine have rushed to the site, and work is taking place to drain the pit. Floodwater swept into the mine around 1 a.m. Friday morning. The cause of the accident is under investigation. Earlier Wednesday, fourteen miners have been hospitalized following a gas combustion incident in a coal mine in southwest China's Yunnan province, local authorities had said. The combustion was triggered by a blasting operation to open a hole in the tunnel of the Zhanmaoying Coal Mine in Zhenxiong county late Tuesday night, a county government spokesman said. The 14 miners were in stable condition Wednesday, the spokesman said. Local authorities are further investigating the accident, he added.