Fifteen miners were yesterday confirmed to have died in a colliery gas explosion in Henan Province after the body of the last victim was recovered yesterday.

The blast occurred at 6:30 PM Friday. 56 miners were working underground at the time at Malingshan Coal Mine in Dengfeng. 41 managed to escape, a spokesman for the provincial coal industry bureau said.

The explosion was caused by an excessive concentration of poisonous gas in the mine, which belongs to Zhengzhou Coal Industry (Group), he added.

The group, which has an annual production capacity of 10 million tons, also exports to Japan and other Asian countries, according to its website.

Investigations into the cause of the explosion are under way.

(China.org.cn, China Daily February 13, 2006)