Eleven people are missing in a flash flood triggered by sudden downpour in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, confirmed local authorities Thursday.

The flooding occurred at about 4:00 PM on Wednesday, when a sudden rainstorm hit the Yangxia mining area in Luntai County, in southern Xinjiang's Bayingolin Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture.

Eight of the 19 workers with the Xinjiang bureau of coal geology who were drilling and exploring there managed to escape, but the rest disappeared in the floods.

As their mobile phones had no signal in the mountainous area, the escaped couldn't contact rescuers until about midnight.

A rescue team led by the head of the Xinjiang bureau of coal geology has been dispatched to the site and further details are not yet available.

(Xinhua News Agency July 20, 2007)