At least nine miners were killed and five others missing in a colliery gas outburst in central China's Hunan Province on Wednesday, the local government said on Thursday.

The accident occurred at about 6:30 p.m. at the Zhangjiazhou coal mine in Chenzhou City when 17 miners were working underground, according to the initial investigation.

Three workers managed to escape from the blast, which brought about 100 tons of coal from the coal bed.

A number of officials, including the deputy governor of Hunan and chief of the provincial work safety watchdog, were supervising the rescue operation at the site.

The colliery, with legal business licenses, was being merged with other mines under the local government's plan to reform the mining industry.

(Xinhua News Agency March 27, 2008)