Ten people were confirmed dead by breathing unknown gas when they sneaked into a molybdenum mine Sunday night for illegal mining at Gangtun Township, Huludao City in northeast China's Liaoning Province, a local official said Wednesday.

A total of 19 migrant workers from Chaoyang City, also in Liaoning, sneaked into the Xiaomagou Molybdenum Mine at around 8 PM on Sunday for illegal mining, said Cui Fenglin, executive vice mayor of Huludao.

While transporting molybdenum ore to the entrance of the mine at around 5 AM on Monday, they were poisoned by a large amount of unknown toxic gas and fainted.

Around 1 PM on Tuesday, nine came to life and returned safely to the ground and reported the accident to the police.

Molybdenum is a kind of silvery-white, hard and transition metal. It is used in making alloys, electrodes and catalysts.

The cause of the accident is under further investigation.

In northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, fourteen miners who have been trapped in a coal mine blast since Tuesday morning were confirmed dead, rescuers said Wednesday.

All of the bodies have been hoisted to the ground and sent to the local hospital, rescuers said.

The victims were from the northwestern Shaanxi Province, southwestern Sichuan Province and Chongqing Municipality. Their relatives were on the way to Xinjiang, a local official said on condition of anonymity.

Twenty-five miners were working in the coal pit, when the gas explosion took place around 10:47 AM Tuesday at a joint-stock coal mine in Yatuer of Baicheng County on the southern slope of Mount Tianshan.

A total of 14 miners were then trapped underground and 11 others escaped.

The 11 survivors are being treated at the county hospital.

According to Gao Chao of the hospital, the escaped miners were only frightened and slightly poisoned by the toxic gas set off by the gas explosion. They were getting better after treatment and may leave the hospital a few days later.

The local government will further investigate into the accident and prosecute those who were responsible for the accident, the official said.

The coal mine is a licensed coal production unit with a designed annual capacity of 30,000 tons. It was contracted to a private businessman two years ago. In accordance with relevant state regulations, the coal mine should be closed at the end of this year.

In a coal mine flooding that occurred in Sichuan Tuesday night, the death toll has risen to 12, a local official said Wednesday.

Sixteen miners are still missing, said Yang Zhiwen, vice governor of Sichuan.

The accident took place around 9 PM on Tuesday at an uphill driving face beneath the Longtan Coal Mine, which is situated at Xiaojing Township in Guang'an City, according to the Sichuan Provincial Work Safety Office.

A total of 32 miners were operating underground and only four escaped.

The coal mine, which is administered by Guang'an Energy Group Co Ltd of Sichuan Provincial Coal Industry Corporation, was built in June 2003 with a designed annual production capacity of 550,000 tons.

According to preliminary investigation, the flooding may be caused by drilling through a water-eroded cave or an underground river.

Rescue operation is going on and the cause of the accident is under investigation.

In related news, the State Council set up a special group yesterday to investigate a major coal mine gas explosion that left 34 miners dead in central China's Henan Province.

The special group, headed by Zhao Tiechui, director of the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety, has four teams consisting of specialists and officials from the General Administration of Work Safety, State Administration of Coal Mine Safety, Ministry of Supervision, All-China Federation of Trade Unions and relevant departments of Henan Province.

The Supreme People's Procuratorate has also sent investigators to probe into the accident.

Thirty-four miners were killed in the gas explosion at the state-owned No.2 Coal Mine of Hebi Coal Industry (Group) Company early Monday morning. The accident also left 19 people injured.

(Xinhua News Agency October 6, 2005)