According to Chinese news service Xinhua, rescuers in the Aiyou Colliery are significantly closer to the workers’ location as of 8pm Sunday evening local time and the shaft’s ventilation has remained normal throughout.

The accident occurred in a nearby tunnel, the miners’ only escapeway, when they were in the process of developing a new tunnel, the service said.

Aiyou is associated with the Liaoning-based Fuxin Mining Group, which has had its share of mining disasters recently. Last week, one miner was killed and three were trapped in the company’s Liujiali mine following a gas explosion.

Also, almost one year ago to the day, Fuxin suffered the deadliest event in China’s history since the country’s 1949 communist revolution when an explosion at its Sunjiawan mine in northeastern Liaoning Province killed 203 miners and left 12 missing February 14, 2005.