Society

Death toll rises to 19 in SW China colliery blast

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-03-12 11:31

GUIYANG - Rescuers have retrieved the bodies of the six missing miners at 11 am Saturday, bringing up the death toll to 19 in the gas blast that hit a colliery in Southwest China's Guizhou province.

A blast ripped through the Xincheng coal mine in Panxian county, Liupanshui city, at 0:30 am Saturday when 34 mine workers were working underground, the county government said in a statement. Fifteen mine managed to escape, it said.

An investigation into the cause of the explosion is underway.