Forty-five people escaped or were rescued following a coal mine flood in north China's coal-rich Shanxi Province, the local safety agency said on Friday.

The flood occurred at approximately midnight on Wednesday at Mawushan Coal Mine, located in the Nanjiao District in the city of Datong, trapping all 45 people who were in the shaft at the time, the Shanxi provincial safety inspection bureau confirmed.

It said that 43 people escaped on their own shortly after the accident. The other two were trapped for more than 30 hours before they were rescued at midday Thursday.

Rescuers used 20 pumps to drain 2,000 cubic meters of water from the shaft before they found the two miners.

Mawushan mine is a township-run colliery with a designed annual output of 150,000 tons of coal.

(Xinhua News Agency December 29, 2007)