A gas blast in a private coal mine has killed at least seven miners and injured five in southwest China's Yunnan Province, sources with the local government said Saturday.

The blast occurred around 6:00 AM Saturday in the Shunxing Coal Mine in Fuyuan Township of Qujing City, in eastern Yunnan. Twenty-seven miners were working underground, and fourteen people managed to escape.

More than 400 rescuers struggled to pull out seven bodies and five miners alive. One miner remains missing.

The injured workers are being treated in a local hospital.

The coal mine, which was built in 1984 with a designed production capacity of 90,000 tons, had been ordered to suspend operation and go through renovation after county coal mine administration staffs inspected the mine on Friday, but coal mine managers secretly organized the miners to work in the night.

Local officials are investigating into the cause of the accident.

(Xinhua News Agency October 7, 2007)