Eight miners were rescued early Thursday morning in a coal mine flooding in northeast China's Jilin Province, said the local work safety supervision administration.

The rescuers are trying to reach the rest seven who are still trapped.

The accident occurred at around 5?AM Wednesday at the Xiren Coal Mine in Wudaojiang town of Tonghua city when 19 miners were working underground. Four managed to escape, the administration said.

The eight were rushed to a local hospital immediately after they were rescued at 4:00?AM and are in stable conditions. Two of them are local villagers and the rest six are from southwestern province of Sichuan.

Five pumps have been pumping out water since 2?PM on Wednesday, it said.

With an annual production of 30,000 tons, the privately owned Xiren Coal Mine is a qualified coal mine and possesses all the required licenses for operation from the local government.

"No accident has ever happened at the mine before," said Yuan Yuqing, deputy director of the Jilin Provincial Coal Industry Bureau.

An investigation into the cause of the accident is underway.

(Xinhua News Agency September 14, 2006)