According to Xinhua, four miners died “on the spot” from the outburst, which occurred at a depth of about 868m at the Jiangxi Coal Group Corporation’s mine on Monday morning.

Rescuers reportedly said there was a slim chance of survival for the four trapped miners, with gas levels remaining high.

Over to northern China, the flooding of the Zhengsheng coal mine on Saturday morning trapped 12 miners underground, with 30 reportedly lifted out of the mine shaft.

The subsequent rescue effort has not yet found any of the 12 men.