A flood at a colliery has trapped 44 miners in the northern Chinese province of Shanxi, the official Xinhua news agency said, in the latest accident to strike the world's deadliest mining industry.
The flood hit on Thursday night, but 101 miners managed to escape, Xinhua said in an overnight report yesterday.
The police have arrested nine of the mine's managers, but the boss has gone into hiding, Xinhua said.
Some managers had hired taxis to send family members of the trapped miners to the neighbouring region of Inner Mongolia to stop them rioting or speaking to the press, it added.
At least one taxi driver was beaten up, the Beijing Youth Daily said on Sunday, though it did not say by whom.
More than 3,300 coal mine blasts, floods and other accidents claimed nearly 6,000 lives across the country last year, as mine owners - motivated by soaring profits - pushed production past safe limits to fuel the booming economy.