Twenty-nine miners have been trapped underground in a gas blast that occurred in a colliery in Hancheng City, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, according to Shaanxi Provincial Colliery Safety Supervision Administration on Friday morning.

The explosion took place at about 9:00 PM Thursday in the Shangyukou Colliery, a township-run coal mine, near Xihancun Village, leaving 29 miners trapped underground.

Officials from the Shaanxi provincial government and its safety production supervision bureau have rushed to the blast site to direct rescue operation.

(Xinhua News Agency April 29, 2005)