The accidents, one caused by flooding and the other by a gas explosion, happened on Monday afternoon and yesterday morning, officials said.

"More than 300 rescuers are working at a colliery in Shouyang County, where a sudden water leakage trapped 33 coal miners in the pit on Monday," said an official with Shanxi's work safety bureau.

A total of 24 miners were rescued and all of them had been hospitalized and were in a stable condition, said an official surnamed Wang.

By press time, dozens of professional rescuers were working underground trying to find the nine missing miners, Wang said.

The rescue efforts started at 3 pm on Monday after four water pumps had been set up at the mouth of the pit to pump out the water, reported China Central Television.

At the same time, the mine's water pipes were used to send fresh air into the tunnels to provide vital oxygen for the survivors, it said.

After being informed of the accident, Shanxi Governor Liu Zhenhua and Vice-Governor Jin Shanzhong rushed to the scene to guide the rescue effort.

In another tragic accident, a gas explosion occurred yesterday morning which left 21 miners missing at Yongtai coal mine, an unauthorized private colliery in Anze County in the city of Linfen, said the State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS).

Headed by Xu Zancheng, chief engineer of the Shanxi work safety bureau, a rescue panel has been established to search for the missing miners, according to Wang from the bureau.

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council have also issued a joint order to central and local work safety authorities, urging them to spare no efforts to save the miners.

Gas explosions pose the most serious threat to China's poorly-equipped coal industry, as well as to the miners working underground.

On March 22, a deadly gas explosion had claimed 71 coal miners in Shanxi, and last week another fatal gas explosion in East China's Anhui Province killed 86 miners. This is the most serious one so far this year, SAWS officials said.

To curb the severe situation of workplace safety, SAWS will hold a teleconference today to strengthen work safety overhaul in the mines as well as to sum up the lessons drawn from recent coal mine accidents.

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