China has the worst record of mining deaths in the world, losing 2,600 miners in 2009 alone.
The men had been doing safety work at the mine when an estimated 4,000 cubic metres of water flooded rushed into the coal mine pit near Neijiang city on Sunday.
An official surnamed Xie with the provincial work safety bureau said 41 workers had been underground at the small, privately-owned Batian mine when it flooded.
Officials said 13 of the workers had managed to escape.
Mining disasters
The official Xinhua news agency said Batian had stopped production and was being upgraded to increase its annual capacity from 50,000 tonnes to 60,000 tonnes.
Al Jazeera’s Melissa Chan, reporting from the capital, Beijing, said the fact that China state television broadcast Monday’s rescue effort live was significant.
“It’s an indication that officials at some point realised that they were going to be able to rescue these people,” she said.
