Three officials were sacked over a deadly coal mine fire that killed at least 19 miners in northeast China, the local party authority said Tuesday.

Jin Guosheng was dismissed from his post of secretary of the Xingshan District committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the standing committee of the CPC Hegang city committee announced.

Wu Shenyi, vice secretary of the CPC Xingshan branch, was also fired, and he would be removed from his post as the district's government head.

Zhang Rongchao, deputy district head where the fire broke out, was removed from his post.

The three were found accountable for the blaze that had left 19 miners dead and 12 others missing. It is unclear at this stage whether they will face criminal prosecution.

A fire broke out at about 3:30 a.m. on Saturday at Fuhua Coal Mine in Xingshan District of Hegang, a city in eastern Heilongjiang Province, while 43 miners were underground, of whom only 12 escaped.

Rescuers were still searching for the missing, despite the fact that the chances of survival were slim as the miners had been trapped for more than three days.

Experts said coal bed self-ignition could be a major cause of the accident.

The mine's owner, manager, a vice manager in charge of production and another in charge of ventilation, and an engineer were in police custody. The mine's bank accounts had been frozen.

The licensed mine belongs to Fuhua Mining Co., Ltd., and has an annual production capacity of 60,000 tonnes.

The city has ordered all its coal mines to suspend operation pending inspections. Mine safety authorities are investigating the cause of the blaze.

(Xinhua News Agency September 23, 2008)