Fourteen workers are trapped in a flooded highway tunnel in Zhuhai, a southern Chinese city for more than two days. Hundreds of rescuers battled Friday, AFP reported, quoting state media. 

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Early Thursday, water leaked into the tunnel that was being built under a reservoir. The workers have been trapped more than a kilometre from the entrance. Rescue efforts have been hampered by the large influx of water at the tunnel face, Reuters reported. 

The tunnel in Zhuhai, Guangdong province is part of a major expressway that links the city to a bridge to neighbouring Macau and Hong Kong.

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The leak has been sealed, but rescuers have not been able to contact the workers, reports on Friday said. 

 The rescuers were 395.3 metres into the tunnel, state media cited Zhuhai’s vice mayor Zhang Yisheng as saying at a news conference. They were still 764.4 metres away from the workers.

Rescue teams were pumping out water from the tunnel, and the reservoir is being drained, according to state media.

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The rescue efforts saw five mobile drainage pump trucks hauling out an hourly volume of 15,400 cubic metres, as per AFP. The city’s vice-mayor on Friday said that another 20 pump trucks are on standby in the surrounding area.

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China has been prone to industrials accidents due to weak safety standards and corruption among officials tasked with enforcing them, AFP adds. 

In January, a group of miners were trapped underground for about two weeks in the eastern Shandong province. In March a wall collapse killed two workers.