Rescuers have recovered five bodies from a coalmine shaft flooded on New Year's Eve in southwest China's Guizhou Province, the rescue headquarters said on Monday.

Rescue teams are still searching for other eight miners missing in the accident, despite risks of tunnel collapse and poison gas.

However, with about 3,000 cubic meters of water still in the pit, their chances of survival were slim, a rescue headquarters official said.

The flood occurred at the Baiyanglin coal mine, which was illegally operating in Anshun City, when 20 people were working in the pit. Seven escaped, but 13 others were trapped.

Preliminary investigations found the mine, with a capacity of 30,000 tons a year, were under renovation. It had no work safety certificate and the production permit had expired.

In September and December 2008, local authorities ordered the mine to stop production, but it continued operating.

The identities of the victims were confirmed and the local work safety watchdog was investigating the cause of the accident.

(Xinhua News Agency January 13, 2009)