Sixteen people were confirmed killed and seven others were still missing by press time on Wednesday in a coal mine blast that occurred Tuesday afternoon in northwest China's Shaanxi Province, local officials said.

The blast took place at 4:50 pm Tuesday in the No. 1 coal mine of the Huangling Mining Co., Ltd. when 85 miners were working under ground. Of them, 65 miners were rescued, including five injured miners who were rushed to hospital.

The 16 killed people included two rescuers, according to the provincial bureau for supervising safety in coal production.

A task force has been set up to search for the missing miners and to deal with the aftermath of the accident.

The state-owned No. 1 coal mine of the Huangling Mining Co., Ltd., with an annual capacity of 6 million tons, went into operation in 2001.

Separately on Wednesday, another three people were confirmed dead in a disused coal mine pit collapse in northeast China's Liaoning Province, bringing the death toll to five.

The accident happened at 11:20 am Tuesday in Dashiqiao City. A magnesia workshop above the pit fell into the 10-meter-deep tunnel after the sudden collapse. Eight workers were buried and two of them were killed at the scene. Another two bodies were found Wednesday morning and one of the injured died in hospital.

The disused coal mine was built by Japanese troops during the World War II. The workshop has been used for 20 years. It was not a production safety accident, said the local supervision department of production safety.

(Xinhua News Agency June 16, 2004)