All seven miners trapped by a colliery fire that broke out over the weekend in the eastern province of Jiangxi were declared dead when rescuers found the last body on Monday morning.

Rescuers found the body during a search of the shafts at 2:00 a.m. after recovering six bodies on Sunday morning, said a spokesman with the county government.

Relatives of the seven victims signed agreements with the coal mine at 7:50 a.m. and received 360,000 yuan (49,600 U.S. dollars) compensation each, said the spokesman.

Seven workers were in the pit when the fire broke out more than 100 meters underground at Luosiwu Coal Mine at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday in Yanshan County, Jiangxi, local government said.

Initial investigations showed that the victims were killed by toxic gas generated by the fire. Investigators said that a short-circuit might have occurred and ignited the cables underground.

The Luosiwu Coal Mine, run by the Yanglin Township government, has official operating licenses and a production capacity of 40,000 tons per year.

(Xinhua News Agency January 14, 2008)