Efforts to save 12 miners trapped in a collapsed coal mine in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region entered their 10th day on Monday.

Rescuers believed seven of the miners are still alive, but it will still be some time before enough water can be pumped out of the flooded mine to allow them to be rescued, said Pan Qiliang, a spokesman for the rescue headquarters.

A total of 71 miners were working underground when a mineshaft in the city of Laibin collapsed on July 2 after several days of heavy rain. Forty-nine of the miners managed to escape. Rescuers have retrieved eight bodies thus far.

Two miners, 41-year-old Liu Jiagan and 35-year-old Qin Hongdang, were rescued 188 hours after becoming trapped underground.

Before they were rushed to the nearby Heshan People's Hospital for treatment, they told rescuers that they survived by drinking spring water that had seeped through the top of the mineshaft.

The mine is operated by the Guangxi Heshan Coal Mining Company. Yang Yaodong, director of the company, pledged that the company will do everything in its power to rescue the remaining trapped miners.