Rescuers get ready to go into a coal mine in Sanmenxia City, Henan Province, early yesterday after an explosion occurred. Twenty-six miners were killed.

An explosion at a coal mine in central China's Henan Province killed 26 miners who were working despite an order to halt production, officials said Wednesday, while a mine tunnel collapse elsewhere left four dead in the latest accidents to strike China's mining industry.

Forty-six miners were working underground when the blast occurred at 5:40pm on Tuesday at the Juyuan Coal Mine in Sanmenxia City, said Li Guoqi, deputy chief engineer of Yi Ma Coal Industry Group, the mine's prospective parent company.

Li said that 20 of the miners were lifted to safety, and all the dead had been removed from the shaft.

Rescuers had to vent toxic gases from the mine before they could enter.

The mine, capable of producing 150,000 tons of coal a year, had been closed for technical upgrading. Safety hazards were supposed to have been dealt with before it could resume operation. However, the mine owner, Suo Yonggang, had ordered the miners back to work, according to Li.

Previously known as the Suzhuang Coal Mine, the mine is being merged into Yi Ma Coal Industry Group, a state-owned conglomerate, which has renamed it "Juyuan Coal Mine."

But as the mine's assets have not been transferred, its ownership has not changed.

A supervisor sent to the mine by Yi Ma Coal Industry Group left for a safety training course 200 kilometers away in Jiaozuo City on the day of the accident.

An accurate death toll was not immediately known because Suo had gone missing and the management of the mine was chaotic, Li said.

He said police investigation had revealed allegations that Suo had concealed the bodies of four victims in the shaft, but he gave no further details.

Yi Ma Coal Industry Group has coal mines in five provinces and regions and employs 50,000 workers.

In a separate accident on Tuesday, a coal mine tunnel in northeastern Liaoning Province collapsed, leaving four miners dead. Three other men managed to escape from the shaft owned by the Caitun Coal Mine in Benxi City.

The state-controlled coal mine was under renovation when the accident happened. The provincial coal mine safety department set up a working group to investigate the accident.

(Xinhua News Agency December 9, 2010)