JIAOHE - Four workers have been confirmed dead and rescuers are still fighting the clock to find eight others who have been trapped in a flooded colliery for a week in northeast China's Jilin province.

Rescuers found four bodies in the shaft just before midnight Saturday, said an official with the rescue team Saturday.

Water from a neighboring colliery flooded the Fengxing coal mine in the city of Jiaohe on April 6, when 70 workers were inside the mine shaft.

Fifty-eight of them managed to escape, while 12 remained trapped ever since.

On Saturday, rescuers are still rushing to pump water out of the shaft. However, experts said that chances of survival were slim for the rest eight as conditions underground were not suitable for survival and the "golden 72 hours" for rescue had passed.