Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province will limit its coal output of next year to the scale of this year in a bid to ensure safety in production, provincial governor Zhang Zuoji said Monday.

A deadly coal mine blast on November 27 this year is considered the outcome of over-production.

The blast occurred at Dongfeng Coal Mine, which had a designed annual production capacity of 500,000 tons. However, the mine turned out more than its capacity, thus leading to the blast.

Up to now, the bodies of 168 miners trapped in the blast have been found. Rescuers are still searching for one miner missing under the mine. Two more people working on the ground died in the blast.

As a leading coal producer, Heilongjiang Province produced 95.46 million tons of coal last year, ranking sixth in the country.

The governor called on all coal mines to control production quota, ensure safety in production and make sustainable development.

(Xinhua News Agency December 6, 2005)