Twenty-one miners have been confirmed dead and six more remained missing in Saturday's coal mine gas explosion in Jixi, a city in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.

By 7 AM Sunday, rescuers found the remains of 21 miners killed in the gas explosion of Yuanhua Coal Mine. Search and rescue efforts are still going on, said sources from the rescue headquarters for Yuanhua Coal Mine gas explosion.

The gas blast occurred at 1:50 PM Saturday when 31 miners were working in the shaft of the Yuanhua Coal Mine in Jixi City. Only four managed to escape.

There were miscalculations of both the number of miners who were working in the shaft when the gas explosion happened and that of the miners who escaped from the gas blast in previous reports.

Further investigation into the cause is underway.

The Yuanhua Coal Mine is privately-owned with an annual production capacity of 30,000 tons.

Jixi, about six hours' bus ride from Harbin, the provincial capital, is an important coal producing base in northeast China.

(Xinhua News Agency November 26, 2006)