Six people were killed and four injured in an explosion at a firecracker workshop in central China's Hunan Province yesterday, and nine miners died after being trapped by a blast at a colliery in the northern province of Shanxi.

A powerful blast tore the roof off and destroyed the 100-square meter unlicensed workshop in Dong'an Village of Yizhang County at about 10 AM, but no adjacent houses were affected, according to the local work safety regulator.

Preliminary investigations found the workshop was run by a man from Sichuan Province without a business license, according to Wang Zhangbin, director of the local administration of production safety and supervision.

An investigation into the cause of the incident is underway.

Shanxi’s administration of coal mine safety supervision said this morning that the explosion at Jiuyuancun Coal Mine in the provincial capital Taiyuan took place at about 5 PM yesterday.

Eight miners were initially reported trapped, but the city government was quoted by Chinanews.cn this morning as saying that nine had been killed and five escaped.

The colliery is village-owned with an annual output of 60,000 tons, said Gong Anku, director of the administration.

It did not have the required production licenses and was ordered to suspend operations in September but continued running, the administration said.

The owner of the mine has fled and the cause of the accident is under investigation.

(Xinhua News Agency October 26, 2005)