MOSCOW (AFP) -- Efforts continued early Friday to rescue 46 miners trapped in a flooded coal mine in southern Russia as the rising waters threatened their lives, the Russian media reported, quoted Emergencies Ministry officials.

Water flooded the Zapadnaya mine in the town of Novoshakhtinsk, in the southern Rostov-on-Don region, early Thursday evening, cutting off power and putting the cage used to bring miners to the surface out of order, officials said.

They said the miners were trapped 800 meters (yards) below the surface.

The director of the mine, who had just been appointed, was among the men trapped, NTV television reported from Novoshakhtinsk.

The water level continued to rise in the mine through the night, the ITAR-TASS News Agency quoted mine officials as saying.

It could take at least two days to reach the men, the deputy governor of Rostov-on-Don region, Sergei Nazarov, told ITAR-TASS early Friday.

A total of 65 miners were originally trapped in the mine shaft Thursday, but 19 managed to come out on their own, ITAR-TASS quoted mine officials as saying.

Mines in southern Russia are notorious for their poor safety record, and fatal accidents are common.