Rescuers said on early Saturday that 27 people were found dead and seven remained trapped after a coal mine blast in north China's Shanxi Province.

The explosion occurred in the facility of the Anxin Coal Mining Co. Ltd. in Xiaoyi City at about 11 a.m. Friday, when 58 miners were working underground.

Fifteen managed to escape on their own and another nine were saved by rescuers. All 24 were sent to hospitals.

The bodies of the 27 dead were pulled out of the shaft at about 5:00 AM on Saturday.

More than 100 rescuers from Xiaoyi and other areas have been mobilized to search for those still trapped, said the rescue headquarters.

Wang Jun, director of the State Administration of Work Safety and Zhang Baoshun, Shanxi's Communist Party chief, arrived in Xiaoyi City on Saturday morning to direct the rescue efforts.

They ordered all-out efforts to rescue the trapped miners and prevention of secondary disasters.

A high density of toxic gas and the collapse of certain areas under the mine hindered rescue efforts, the headquarters said.

Police detained four people -- the mine's chief and legal representative Tian Yun, a deputy chief and two workers in charge of blasting operations -- according to Ren Fengding, a Xiaoyi City Public Security Bureau official.

Seventeen others, including the city coal mine administration personnel stationed in the mine, are being monitored by police, Ren said. Police are seeking a contractor, Wang Xiaoguo, who fled after the blast.

The coal company reported to local government authorities that blasting activity under the main shaft caused the incident.

The mine was approved to produce 90,000 tons of coal a year.

(Xinhua News Agency June 14, 2008)