BEIJING, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Thirty-six Chinese miners were trapped in flooded iron ore pit shafts on Wednesday and it was unknown if they were dead or alive, Xinhua news agency said.

The miners were trapped in three vertical shafts at the mine near Baotou in the northern region of Inner Mongolia.

"The fate of the miners is unknown and a full scale rescue operation is under way," the agency said. It did not give details.

China has called on mining and manufacturing companies to dramatically raise spending on safety measures to cut industrial accidents that kill more than 16,000 people annually.

Chinese coal mines are the world's deadliest, with 4,746 miners killed in thousands of blasts, floods and other accidents last year.

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