A coal mine accident in east China's Jiangxi Province has left nine people dead and one badly injured.

The accident occurred when a steel cable holding a coal carrier suddenly broke at 2:45 p.m. Sunday as the carrier was transporting10 miners through the main entrance of Dongfanghong Mine. All the miners fell to the bottom of the pit and nine were killed, said the provincial supervision bureau of coal mine safety.

Workers must take special vehicles down into the mine and through side entrances, warned the bureau.

Dongfanghong is an authorized state-owned coal mine. Officials from the bureau have gone to the site to investigate the accident. The injured miner is being treated in hospital.

(Xinhua News Agency  September 23, 2003)