Six people have been confirmed dead in a coal mine gas leak in central China's Hubei Province Tuesday afternoon, local authorities said.

The gas leak happened at about 2 p.m. at the Lengjiawan Coal Mine in Zigui County in the city of Yichang, the county government said in a press release.

Earlier the county government reported it was a gas explosion.

The gas leak left six miners trapped underground and by 11 p.m., all the trapped miners have been found dead and their bodies retrieved to the ground, it said.

The mine, once named "a model mine" in Hubei, is legally operating with an annual production capacity of 60,000 tonnes, said Huang Chun, head of the Yichang city department of work safety.

An investigation into the mine accident is underway.