BEIJING: The death toll from a flooded mine in southern China has risen to seven, with 29 workers still trapped, the government said Wednesday.

The figure from the Nadu coal mine in the Guangxi Zhuang region, announced by the State Administration of Work Safety in a statement on its website, was up from six reported the day before.

Twenty-one miners have been saved after Monday's flooding, the administration said, suggesting that a total of 57 miners were in the mine at the time of the disaster.

Previous reports had suggested that either 56 or 99 had been at work when the flooding happened.

About 800 people were involved in the rescue effort, and authorities had called for reinforcements from neighbouring areas, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency on Tuesday.

The accident is the latest in a series of disasters to hit China's notoriously unsafe coal mining industry.

Nearly 3,800 lives were lost in Chinese coal mines last year, according to official figures, but independent labour groups say they believe the actual death toll is much higher as many are covered up.

China is the world's largest producer and consumer of coal, which covers two-thirds of its energy needs, with demand rising along with the boom in the nation's economy.

- AFP/yb