At least 11 workers were killed in a gas explosion in a privately run coal mine in Jilin province on Tuesday, state media reports said.
The blast occurred on the site of an illegal coal mine in Zhaxi, a city in Jiangyuan county in Baishan municipality. The State Administration of Work Safety said the miners had been 70 metres underground when the accident happened.
It was not known what caused the blast or how many workers were in the mine at the time, but a report on the People's Daily Web site reported that at least 11 were killed. The death toll is likely to rise.
'The total number of casualties is not known, but at least seven people are still missing,' said an official of the State Administration of Work Safety.
The Baishan government closed all small privately run coal mines after 11 people were killed in a similar accident a few days ago, but many were still being run illegally, according to the Web site.
The owner of the mine, Sun Changdong, is still being sought.