HEGANG, Heilongjiang, July 27 -- Six workers were rescued from a flooded colliery in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province on Monday morning, local authorities said.

The six were lifted to the ground at about 5:30 a.m., said the emergency rescue headquarters at Xuxiang Colliery in Hegang.

The death toll stood at four by Monday morning and rescuers are racing to search for the other five workers who have been trapped in the pit for about seven days.

The six workers were in stable condition and had no obvious injuries on the body, said Wang Falun, vice president of the Hegang Municipal People's Hospital.

Wang, however, said there was a little problem with the workers' feet as they had been submerged in cold water for days and therefore needed four to five days to recover.

Also it took time for the rescued to resume a normal diet as they had not have food for days underground, Wang said.

"When we first met them, they had not recovered from fear and nervousness. But after intervention by psychologists, they were gradually calmed down," he said.

Flood water inundated the pit at around 5 p.m. on July 20, trapping 15 miners. Investigators said the flood was an aftermath of downpour.

Hegang is a major coal producer. Xuxiang Colliery is privately owned, with an annual output of 150,000 tonnes.