The death toll from Sunday's collapse of a small coal mine in central China's Hunan Province has risen from six to 12 after the bodies of the last four missing miners were recovered on Wednesday, rescuers said.

The accident at the Guanyin Coal Mine of Anping Township, Lianyuan City, took place at around 1 PM on Sunday at Guanyin Coal Mine when 48 miners were working underground, 33 managed to escape.

Three miners are being treated in a local hospital.

The boss of the mine and a few managers fled after the collapse and their whereabouts is unknown, local authorities have said.

A relative of the boss sent about 300,000 yuan (US$ 37,500) to the local government to help cover the cost of the rescue.

Guanyin Coal Mine had a designed annual production capacity of 30,000 tons of coal. The mine's work safety license had been revoked before the accident and it has been ordered to suspend production, local authorities said.

An investigation into the cause of the accident continues.

(Xinhua News Agency December 7, 2006)