Seven more bodies were recovered on Sunday after a coal mine gas explosion in northwest China's Gansu Province, bringing the death toll to nine, local authorities said Sunday night.

 

The accident took place at about 11 PM Friday at Yaojie township of Lanzhou, provincial capital, when 10 miners were working underground at a mine owned by the Jinhe Coal Company.

 

Rescuers found three miners Saturday, two of whom died of gas poisoning while the third is under treatment in a local hospital.

 

Rescue efforts were hampered by the high density of gas underground and coal and earth blocking 40 meters of the tunnels, rescuers said.

 

The cause of the accident is being investigated.

 

(Xinhua News Agency April 9, 2007)