QUJING - Half the water from a flooded coal mine in Southwest China's Yunnan province has been pumped out, but no substantial progress made in the search for the 22 miners trapped since Monday.

The workers are believed to be stranded at an depth of 1,876 meters - 10 meters below the level of the flood water that inundated a pit of Xiahaizi colliery in Qujing city at 4:50 am Monday.

As of 8 am Saturday, rescuers had drained an over 22,000 cubic meters of water from the pit, reducing the water level to about 4.5 meters from the previous 10, a city government press release revealed.

"One more pump was installed on Saturday and a total of 12 are now at work, draining 830 cubic meters of water per hour," said Luo Shixiong, secretary-general of Qujing's city government and spokesman with the emergency rescue headquarters. ' Xiahaizi colliery reports an annual output of 60,000 tons.

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Racing against time for rescue in Yunnan mine flood	22 miners trapped in Yunnan coal mine flood