Rescuers on Sunday are pumping water out of a flooded coal mine in central China's Henan Province, hoping to reach six miners trapped underground since Saturday afternoon.

Five other miners had been earlier confirmed dead after the flooding occurred at 2 p.m. Saturday at the mine owned by Yulongyuantong Coal Mining Co. in Pingdingshan City.

Rescuers on Sunday morning confirmed 53 miners were under the mine by the time of the accident. Forty-two of them have managed to escape.

A spokesman with the rescue headquarters said the flooding was caused by an outburst of seeper from a disused mining pit adjacent to the mine.

Yulongyuantong Coal Mining Co. is a new subsidiary set up by the Henan Coalbed Methane Development Co. Ltd., which took over the mine on Jan. 17 for renovation and development.

The parent company is China's first state-owned conglomerate specialized in coalbed methane development and recycling coal gas for multipurpose uses.

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