Eight coal miners were killed in a methane-gas explosion in Vietnam's Quang Ninh province, officials said on Tuesday.
This is the second fatal coal-mining accident within a week.
The cause of the blast on Monday at the Thong Nhat Coal Co mine in Quang Ninh province, 150 km east of Hanoi, is under investigation, according to an official in the provincial safety department.
"The explosion was probably caused by a build-up of methane gas," said Do Thu Trang, manager of the mine. Another safety official said that an electrical short in the lighting system might have triggered off the explosion.
The bodies of all eight workers, who were in the mining pit when the blast occurred, were pulled from the wreckage by Monday afternoon, Trang said.
Quang Ninh, a major coal-production centre of Vietnam, has so far seen 12 mining deaths in 2006. Last week, a pit had collapsed at a mine run by Ha Long Coal Co, killing two people.