Ten workers were confirmed dead in a coal mine gas burst in southwest China's Guizhou Province, as the body of a missing worker was retrieved, local authorities said Saturday.

The body was recovered in the shaft late Friday, said a spokesman with the Guizhou Provincial Work Safety Bureau.

The accident occurred at 11:23 PM Thursday at Zhenxing Coal Mine in Xingren County when 172 workers were working underground, the spokesman said.

Nine bodies were retrieved and one worker reported missing as of 10:00 AM Friday, he said.

A total of 162 workers managed to escape. Three of them were injured by the flying debris, and were being treated at a county hospital.

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 28, 2009)