Eight miners were pulled to safety on Sunday after 16 were trapped underground for more than three days in a flooded colliery in Central China.

Rescuers continued to work around the clock to save those who were still missing.

More than 1,000 rescuers, doctors and nurses were organized to work in several shifts to rescue the miners, said a publicity official in Hunan province's Leiyang city.

The accident happened on Wednesday at the Qielichong Coal Mine in Sandu township, Leiyang, causing sixteen of the 40 people working in the pit to be trapped.

A miner is rushed to hospital aft er he was rescued from a flooded pit in Leiyang, Hunan province, on Sunday. Eight of 16 miners were rescued from the pit and teams are still searching for the others. Meanwhile, seven workers in another Hunan mine were killed by a gas blast. PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY

Three workers were pulled out of the pit safely at 1:42 am on Sunday. China Central Television footage showed the miners, their eyes covered with thick cloth, being carried on stretchers and rushed to ambulances waiting at the site.

The fourth was out of the mine by 10:40 am and four others were rescued later in the afternoon.

The survivors have been sent to the hospital while the mine owner, Liu Yaping, has been placed in police custody, according to Xinhua News Agency.

The managers of the mine failed to report the accident immediately, causing the rescue efforts to be delayed by about 12 hours, Xinhua said.

A flooding accident in an illegally run coal mine in the same city killed 13 people on June 20, 2011. Four officials, including Sandu township’s former Party chief, received prison terms after they were accused of dereliction of duty, corruption and other offenses.

In a separate accident also in Hunan, seven miners were killed in a gas outburst on Sunday.

The accident occurred at about 6:45 am at the Xiangzhong Coal Mine in the city of Lianyuan, the city government said in a press release. Thirty-nine miners managed to escape. Further investigation into the cause of the accident is under way, Xinhua reported.

"We have seen two coal mine accidents happen in the same province within such a short period of time," said an official from Hunan province’s coal mine safety administration, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

"I think the authority will take strong measures to prevent more of these sorts of accidents from happening."

"There are many small, old coal mines in Leiyang and Lianyuan cities, making them prone to accidents," said an official from State Administration of Work Safety.

Contact the writers at wangxiaodong@chinadaily.com.cn and fengzhiwei@chinadaily.com.cn

Zhi Yun and Wen Xinzheng contributed to this story.