A coal mine explosion on Wednesday killed five firefighters and left one missing in Shanxi Province, local officials said on Thursday.

A blast ripped through a burned shaft at the Guxian mine in Changzhi City at about 8:30 p.m. as the six were trying to seal the mine for safety reasons. Four died on the scene and one died later in a hospital. Rescuers are still searching for the missing person.

The township-level coal mine, with a legal business license, had an annual production capacity of 600,000 tons.

Officials from the local government and production safety authority are investigating the cause of the explosion.

(Xinhua News Agency April 11, 2008)