Two miners were found alive but 35 remained trapped underground Monday in a coal mine in danger of flooding after an explosion, Interfax Ukraine reported, as hopes for the miners' survival dwindled.

The agency quoted Ukraine's Inter television as saying the two had been pulled out from the debris and brought to the surface at the Karl Marx mine in eastern Ukraine. The search for the other miners by seven rescue teams continued as 22 medical units waited.

On Sunday Andriy Bondarenko, the regional head of the emergency situations ministry, had said: "The fate of 37 people who were in the mine when the explosion took place... remains unknown."

Deputy Prime Minister Olexander Turchinov said that underground water would flood the mine within a few hours, in comments quoted by Interfax news agency.

"Five people outside the mine" were injured, a ministry statement said.