At least 24 miners have been killed and six are missing after two separate colliery accidents in Hebei and Guizhou.

In north China's Hebei Province, a coalmine flooded at about 5:00 AM Saturday, trapping all 14 miners working underground at the time.

All 14 miners are confirmed dead, the rescue operation headquarters said on Monday.

Rescuers have found the bodies of the miners from the site of the tragedy, the Yuanda Coal Mine in Xingtai City.

Owners of the coalmine have been detained by local police and investigations into the cause of the flooding is underway.

In another development, rescuers have recovered 10 bodies, as of Sunday, from the site of the coalmine gas blast in southwest China's Guizhou Province, but six people are still missing, according to the provincial work safety supervision bureau.

Twenty-five miners were working in the pit at the time of the accident. The explosion, which happened early on Friday at the Shagou colliery in Panlong Town, Liupanshui City, caused the mine to cave in.

Nine of the miners escaped.

The chances of survival for the six missing miners are slim because there is a high density of carbon monoxide underground, experts at the site said.

Police have arrested the owner of the mine, a native of central China's Hunan Province, who fled after the accident.

Shagou colliery has a designed annual output of 30,000 tons and a technical reconstruction to increase capacity to 60,000 tons was underway when the accident happened.

Search and rescue operations are continuing.

(Xinhua News Agency November 21, 2005)