At least nine miners were trapped in the Yi, Hui and Miao Autonomous County of Weining, southwest China's Guizhou Province, since two connected coal mines there were flooded Thursday night.

Information from Guizhou Provincial Work Safety Bureau said the flooding happened around 7 p.m. Thursday at two unlicensed coal mines, Anleixing and Gutaibai, both of which share part of the mining shaft, when miners of Gutaibai Coal Mine working beneath the shaft dug through an water-logged area, where unleashed water containing high density of sulfureted hydrogen.

Both coal mines, situated in Huahongping Village of Tujie Township in the far-flung Weining County, western Guizhou Province, were flooded, and two miners from Gutaibai and seven more from Anleixing Coal Mine were verified to have been trapped beneath the shaft. Rescue operation has been going on swiftly.

(Source: Xinhua)