Fire trapped 27 miners underground at a coal mine in central China's Hunan province on Tuesday afternoon, state media reported.
Rescuers were searching for the miners at the Lisheng coal mine in Hunan's Xiangtan county, the government's Xinhua news agency quoted a county official as saying, DPA reported.
The report said the missing miners "could still be alive" but gave no further details of the accident.
Accidents kill thousands of people annually in Chinese coal mines. The accidents are often triggered by outdated equipment and poor safety measures, especially at illegal mines.