Fifteen miners were killed in a gas blast in a local coalmine in Renhuai City, in southwest China's Guizhou Province.
  
The accident happened at about 5:30 PM on Thursday at the Zhulinwan Coal Mine, a newly built facility with an annual production capacity of 60,000 tons. Twenty-one miners were working in the shaft at the time. Only two miners escaped, said sources from Guizhou Provincial Bureau of Coal Mine Safety.
  
By 6:00AM on Friday, rescue workers successfully rescued four miners and found the remains of six others.
  
Local police have been hunting for Li Zhenping, owner of the mine, who fled after the accident.
  
Rescue operations were still in progress by press time.

Investigations into the cause of the accident are underway.

(Xinhua News Agency August 26, 2005)