At least 20 miners were killed and 52 others remained trapped after a gas explosion in a coal mine in northern China this afternoon, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
About 75 miners were working underground in the Mengnanzhuang coal mine in Shanxi province at the time of the blast, the news agency said.
Three people were rescued but 52 others remained trapped in the mine, Xinhua said quoting provincial officials. At least 20 were confirmed dead, it said.
At least 49 people were killed in accidents in Chinese mines last month. A group of 35 miners were killed in an explosion at a coal mine in southwestern Guizhou province while an accident in a Shanxi mine killed another 14.
China's mining industry is the world's largest but also its deadliest. About 7,000 people were killed in mining accidents last year.