Beijing:
At least 50 people were trapped underground after a fire engulfed a gold mine in east China's Shandong Province, local authorities said.
Initially, 64 people were trapped when the fire broke out at about 5 pm (local time) at the Lingnan Gold Mine in Zhaoyuan, a small city under the jurisdiction of Yantai City, but 11 had been resuced ground safely, a spokesman with the Shandong Provincial Emergency Affairs Office told official Xinhua news agency.
Power was cut off underground after the blaze and there was air in some areas in the shaft, the official said, adding that the provincial government has launched a rescue operation.
A spokesman with the Yantai municipal government earlier told Xinhua that more than 200 workers had been brought to safety.
The exact number of people working underground needs to be checked, and it was not immediately known whether the fire had caused casualties, he said.
An initial investigation showed that the fire was likely caused by an underground cable, he added.