Flood traps 14 workers in tunnel under construction in China

Search and rescue teams are pumping out water in an attempt to find 14 construction workers trapped by a flood in a tunnel being built in southern China

China Tunnel Flood (Chinatopix)

Rescuers were pumping out water Thursday to try to find 14 construction workers trapped by a flood in a tunnel being built in southern China

The rescuers have not been able to contact the workers missing since the 3:30 a.m. flood, the Zhuhai city emergency management department said in an online post.

“Rescue work is proceeding in an intense and orderly way," it said.

More than 1,000 workers, 22 fire trucks and five pumping vehicles were taking part in the effort, with search and rescue teams dispatched from surrounding cities in Guangdong province.

The cause of the flood is under investigation.

In March, two workers died in another part of the tunnel when a protective wall collapsed and they were hit by falling stones, according to a notice from the Zhuhai emergency management department.

Zhuhai is a coastal city near Macao at the mouth of the Pearl River delta. It was one of China's early special economic zones when the ruling Communist Party started opening up the nation's economy about 40 years ago.