Three people were confirmed dead and one was missing after a coal mine accident on Monday in Fuxin County of northeast China's Liaoning Province, a local official told Xinhua on Wednesday.

There was a flood in Yong'an Coal Mine in Wofenggou, Fuxin, at 10:00 AM on Monday when four staff were trying to drain stagnant water from a disused underground work area. The water trapped all four, said the official of the Fuxin Mongolia Autonomous County Committee of the Communist Party of China.

No coal was being mined at the time, the official said. The workers were apparently trying to prevent future accidents.

Three bodies have so far been recovered.

Yong'an mine is a small but legal venture with a designed production capacity of 50,000 tons a year.

(Xinhua News Agency February 25, 2009)