The death toll from a coal mine flooding in north China's Shanxi Province stood at ten as the bodies of trapped miners were recovered early on Tuesday.

The flooding took place at the Wangzhuang Coal Mine in Changzhi City on Saturday night when 82 miners were working underground. Sixty-nine miners managed to escape hours later and another three escaped by themselves on Monday, the rescue headquarters said.

The floodwater, amounting to 10,000 cubic meters, was said to come from a mined-out area in the vicinity.

The mine, under the Shanxi Coal Transportation and Sales Group Co., Ltd., is state-owned and fully registered with an annual capacity of 1.2 million tons.

(Xinhua News Agency July 15, 2008)