Water level continued to drop in a flooded coal mine where 31 miners have been trapped since March 1 in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

Rescuers began looking for signs of life since Saturday but they didn't find any as of 11:00 AM Sunday, said Wu Qingfeng, a spokesman with the emergency rescue headquarters at Luotuoshan Coal Mine in Wuhai, a city about 600 kilometers from the regional capital, Hohhot.

The water level had dropped by 10.35 meters as of 10:20 AM Sunday and continued to fall, said Lan Yi, a spokesman of the emergency rescue headquarters.

Experts estimated that a total of 271,500 cubic meters of water has filled the pit and 173,600 cubic meters of water had been pumped out as of 10:20 a.m., Lan said.

"The falling water level shows that there is more water coming out than flooding in," Lan said.

Four pumps were working right now with a total drainage capacity of 3,850 cubic meters per hour, Lan said.

On Saturday the rescuers managed to drill a hole to reach a mining shaft 202 meters deep, where 12 workers are believed to be trapped.

Underground water flooded a pit of Luotuoshan Coal Mine in Wuhai City on March 1 when 77 miners were working.

One miner was confirmed dead, 45 were rescued while 31 more were still trapped underground.

The trapped miners are from Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and provinces of Gansu, Shaanxi and Henan, according to a full name list published Saturday.

Luotuoshan Coal Mine, which is still under construction, is owned by Wuhai Energy Co. Ltd. under Shenhua Group Corp. Ltd., the country's largest coal producer.

Construction of the mine started in 2006. It is designed to produce 1.5 million tonnes of coal a year.

Last year, Inner Mongolia replaced the northern Shanxi Province to become China's leading coal base with 637 million tonnes of output.

(Xinhua News Agency March 7, 2010)