Police have detained the owner and the chief engineer of a coal mine in southwest China, where a gas explosion has left 30 people dead. Nearly 60 others were injured, four of them seriously.

The rescue work has almost come to an end, nearly a day after the colliery gas burst.

101 miners have been lifted out of the shaft.

The accident happened at Tonghua Coal Mine in Chongqing municipality Saturday morning, when 131 people were working underground.

Top officials from the state work safety watchdog have joined local authorities in directing the rescue operations.

They also paid a visit to the injured.