The death toll from a coal mine blast in east China's Anhui Province has risen to five, as rescuers found bodies of three workers Friday afternoon.

A pocket of gas burst at the Beichen Coal Mine at about 3:30 a.m., Friday, when nine people were working underground. Four people escaped.

Rescuers found two bodies in the pit around 7 a.m. The bodies of the other three were recovered 10 hours later.

The mine in in Huaibei City, Anhui, belongs to Zaozhuang Mining Group based in the neighboring Shandong Province. The group reported a blast in one of its coal mines in Zaozhuang City that left 18 dead in February 2006.

Huabei ordered all collectively-owned and private collieries to suspend production after the accident. Operation can only be resumed after they pass work safety overhauls, said Gui Laibao, director of the provincial production safety bureau.

(Xinhua News Agency December 20, 2008)