Rescue work for the 16 trapped miners in a flooded coal mine in southwest China's Guizhou Province was interrupted as rainstorm cut off power supply, said local sources on Saturday.

Whereabouts of the miners are still unknown.

According to Chen Min, Party chief of the Qianxinan Buyi and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, rainstorm with lightening strike Friday night cut off the power supply twice. Therefore, the equipment to pump water couldn't been used and ventilation of the shaft was stopped.

"Without ventilation, gas would accumulate underground so that rescuers must leave," Chen said.

Once the power supply was restored, rescuers had to disperse the gas before resuming their work.

At about 1:30 AM, creepage occurred in the electricity system and one rescuer was shocked into coma. People left again for a check of the equipment and rescue was once again interrupted, said Wang Shuhe, vice director with the State Coal Mining Safety Supervision Administration.

The flooding occurred at around 4:00 PM on Wednesday at the Xinqiao coal mine in Qinglong County.

The mine owner was blamed for failing to report the accident in time, which meant that the optimal time for rescue had passed. He also tried to cover up the exact number of miners underground by destroying the name list.

(Xinhua News Agency June 21, 2009)