Nine killed, four injured in coal mine explosion in China

At least nine miners are killed and four others injured in a gas explosion in a privately-owned coal mine in southwest China's Guizhou Province.

At least nine miners were killed and four others injured in a gas explosion in a privately-owned coal mine in southwest China's Guizhou Province, local officials said on Friday.

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The accident occurred on Thursday at Wanjin Coal Mine in Xianyuan Township, Zunyi City, around noon when 26 miners were working underground.

Thirteen workers managed to escape, Xinhua news agency reported. The cause of the accident is being investigated.

Coal mine accidents killed 357 people in China, the world's largest coal producer and consumer, in the first two months of this year, the State Administration of Work Safety said.

It said 4,746 people died in 2,845 coal mine accidents last year, an average of 13 deaths a day.