Sixty-nine miners were trapped on Sunday in a coal mine after it got flooded in Jiaohe city in northeast China's Jilin province, local officials said.

The miners were working beneath the shaft of Tengda, a township-run coal mine, when the flooding occurred around 0530 IST. They have remained out of contact ever since, the officials added.

Rescue operation is being carried out, Xinhua news agency reported.

China, which depends on coal for 70 per cent of its energy needs, has the most dangerous mines in the world. Over 6,000 miners died in 6,300 mining incidents in 2004, according to official reports.

The Chinese government has repeatedly promised to try to prevent major accidents by stepping up work safety and closing down illegal mines dotting the countryside.

One of the reasons cited for the growing coal mine accidents is the energy crunch faced by the nation. This has prompted some mines to overwork at the expense of safety standards.

In another accident on Saturday, a machine suddenly caught fire in a shaft of the Fushun coal Mine in the Changzhuang Township when 79 miners were working underground. Sixty-seven miners escaped, Xinhua news agency reported.

Bodies of the eight dead miners have been found.

The colliery management in charge of work safety have been detained by police and the cause of the fire is under investigation, the report said.