A gas explosion killed at least seven miners and trapped 109 others underground at a coal mine in the northern Chinese province of Shanxi on Sunday, the government said, dpa reported.
The blast ripped through the mine belonging to the Shanxi Jiaomei coal group in Gujiao city at 2 am as 436 miners were working underground, the State Administration of Work Safety reported on its website.
The safety administration said 320 miners escaped after the blast, seven were confirmed dead and the remaining 109 trapped underground.
Rescue teams were trying to reach the trapped miners, and safety inspectors and senior officials had travelled to the mine to investigate the cause of the explosion, it said.
The large state-run mine has an annual capacity of 5 million tons of coal, the administration said.
Accidents kill an estimated 10,000 people annually in Chinese mines. The accidents are often triggered by outdated equipment and poor safety measures with many occurring at illegal mines.