Rescuers are working all-out Tuesday to drain water from a flooded coal mine in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, hoping to lift 31 people out of the pit.

Rescuers are working all-out to drain water from a flooded pit of Luotuoshan Coal Mine in Wuhai City, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, March 2, 2010, hoping to lift 31 people out of the pit. Water gushed into the pit of Luotuoshan Coal Mine in Wuhai City, at least 600 kilometers from the regional capital Hohhot at around 7:30 a.m. Monday, the local work safety authority said. [Ren Junchuan/Xinhua]

Water gushed into the pit of Luotuoshan Coal Mine in Wuhai City, at least 600 kilometers from the regional capital Hohhot at around 7:30 a.m. Monday, the local work safety authority said.

As of Monday evening, one mine worker was confirmed dead and seven survived with slight injuries. Thirty-one people remained trapped.

Rescuers worked through the night to install water pumps and other rescue facilities. As of 8 a.m. Tuesday, one of the four pumps at the site had begun working.

It is not immediately known how long it will take to drain the pit, which the emergency rescue headquarters estimated was flooded with about 100,000 cubic meters of water. The surface of the flood water was 460 meters underground.

Five ambulances and more than 10 medical workers are waiting to provide first-aid to the survivors.

Rescuers are working all-out to drain water from a flooded pit of Luotuoshan Coal Mine in Wuhai City, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, March 2, 2010, hoping to lift 31 people out of the pit. Water gushed into the pit of Luotuoshan Coal Mine in Wuhai City, at least 600 kilometers from the regional capital Hohhot at around 7:30 a.m. Monday, the local work safety authority said. [Pang Xinglei/Xinhua]

Yang Xuelin, one of the seven survivors, described himself as "lucky". "I saw a wave of water and eight people disappeared before I realized what was going on."

Yang, an excavator from the northwestern Shaanxi Province, had just finished the night shift and had reached a parking lot about 800 meters from the mining platform when the flood occurred.

"There was water on the ground," said Yang. "Within a minute, the water rose to my waistline."

Yang and his 15 co-workers ran back to the mining platform and called the executive office for help.

"We were told to follow a particular route and ran towards a shaft," said Ma Chengming, another survivor. "We knew we should climb up the shaft, but there was nothing to cling to and the flood water had reached our chests."

Ma and Yang each snatched a piece of lumber and floated on the rapidly rising water surface. Others followed their suit, struggled with the roaring waves and waited for rescue. "By then, eight of our co-workers had disappeared," said Yang.

By the time they were rescued in the afternoon, 37-year-old Gao Yanfa had been suffocated to death.

The seven survivors were sent to the Wuhai People's Hospital. None of them suffered critical injuries, said their doctor Zhang Wei.

The accident has aroused attention of the central government. Premier Wen Jiabao ordered "all-out rescue efforts" Monday night and Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang arrived in Wuhai to oversee the rescue operation.

Luotuoshan Coal Mine is owned by Wuhai Energy Co. Ltd. and its parent company is Shenhua Group Corp. Ltd., one of China's major mining firms.

Construction of the mine started in 2006. It is designed to produce 1.5 million tonnes of coal a year.

Last year, Inner Mongolia replaced the northern Shanxi Province to become China's leading coal base with 637 million tonnes of output.

On the other hand, the region reported 33 deaths in 21 mine accidents, a fatality rate of 0.052 per million tonnes, one of the lowest among China's major coal bases.