Rescuers in Northwestern China Search for 17 Trapped Miners

BEIJING (AP) -- Rescuers in northwestern China were searching Thursday for 17 miners trapped after their shaft flooded with water, the government said.

Preliminary findings show that the flood at the Wutao Coal Mine in Shandan, a county in Gansu province, was caused by water flowing in from abandoned pits nearby, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

The mine was inundated on Sunday with 29 workers inside, Xinhua said. Twelve managed to escape.

Thousands of workers die each year in China's mines, the world's most dangerous. Floods, fires and explosions are the most common causes of death in the small, sometimes illegal mines, which often lack even the most basic safety equipment.