Five miners are trapped after a coal mine collapsed on Thursday in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the local authority said.

It happened at the Chenxingyuan Coal Mine around 6:00 AM in the Midong District of Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang.

Six people were working underground when the mine collapsed. One person managed to escape, the others remained trapped, the district committee of the Communist Party of China told Xinhua.

Rescuers are searching for the trapped workers.

The private colliery, located in a mountainous region, has legal licenses. It produces about 170,000 tonnes of coal a year.

(Xinhua News Agency December 18, 2008)