Nine workers died of asphyxiation and another is missing after a coal mine gas burst in southwest China's Guizhou Province late Thursday, local authorities said Friday.

The gas burst occurred at 11:23 PM at Zhenxing Coal Mine in Xingren County, said a spokesman with the Guizhou Provincial Work Safety Bureau.

He said 172 people were in the pit, of whom 162 escaped. Three people were injured by the flying debris, and were being treated at a county hospital Friday.

As of 10:00 AM Friday, rescuers had recovered nine dead bodies and were still searching for the missing worker, the spokesman said.

Zhenxing Coal Mine, in the resource-rich Xingren County of the Qianxinan Buyei and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, has an annual output of 600,000 tonnes.

(Xinhua News Agency November 27, 2009)