Beijing - A flood trapped up to 34 people in a shaft at a coal mine in central China's Henan province on Monday, the government said.

Water flooded into the shaft at the Gaomendong mine in Henan's Jiaxian county, near the city of Pingdingshan, as 42 miners were underground at 7:20 am, the State Administration of Work Safety said.

The safety administration said 33 miners were trapped and nine escaped after the flood, but later state media reports said 34 people were still trapped underground.

The township-level mine was licensed to produce up to 60,000 tons of coal annually, the safety administration said.

Beijing - Twenty-one people are feared dead after a cave-in at a tunnel under construction for a subway line in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, state media said on Sunday. 

Rescuers had recovered three bodies by Sunday morning and held little hope of finding 18 missing construction workers alive, the official Xinhua news agency said. 

"There is a slim chance for the survival of trapped workers, because of heavy flooding in the crater," the agency quoted Wang Guangrong, a spokesman for the rescue services, as saying. 

The water in the hole left by the cave-in had fallen to about 3 metres after reaching 6 metres on Saturday, Wang said. 

Beijing - The United Nations on Sunday urged the Chinese government to spend more on public services to offset the effects of growing wealth gaps.

"Comprehensive institutional and policy reforms are essential for China to provide its people with access to improved health services, education, social security and public employment services," the UN Development Programme (UNDP) said a the launch of its latest China Human Development Report.

Beijing  - Twenty people are feared dead after a cave-in at a tunnel under construction for a subway line in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, state media said on Sunday.

Rescuers had recovered three bodies by Sunday morning and held little hope of finding 17 missing construction workers alive, the official Xinhua news agency said.

"There is a slim chance for the survival of trapped workers, because of heavy flooding in the crater," the agency quoted Wang Guangrong, a spokesman for the rescue services, as saying.

Beijing- A cave-in trapped at least 50 people on Saturday afternoon in a tunnel under construction for a subway line in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, state media said.

A road caved in above the tunnel, trapping an unknown number of construction workers and causing several vehicles to fall into the hole, the official Xinhua news agency said.

About 2,000 rescue workers rushed to the site and were "struggling to pump water out of the tunnel", the agency quoted rescue officials as saying.

Beijing - A cave-in killed at least one person and left 16 missing after trapping dozens on Saturday afternoon in a tunnel under construction for a subway line in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, state media said.

A road caved in above the tunnel, trapping construction workers and causing several vehicles to fall into the hole, the official Xinhua news agency said.