Ten people are dead after two coal mine accidents in China on Wednesday, according to local government reports available on Thursday.

A gas leak at 11:00 AM in northern Henan Province killed six miners, a manager, and a technician, the Henan provincial coal mine safety supervision bureau said without giving details.

The mine in Jiayu Town, in the City of Xingyang, had been shut down for a safety overhaul, but its management illegally resumed operations, an investigator with the provincial coal mine administration told Xinhua.

The second tragedy at a mine in Zhongwei City, in northwestern Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, saw two miners killed and two injured in a cave-in.

The injured were out of danger Thursday morning, according to sources with the city hospital.

Investigators said the mine, run by the local government of Changle Town, was fully licensed and had a production permit.

Coal mine accidents killed 357 people in China in the first two months of this year, according to the State Administration of Work Safety. It said 4,746 people died in 2,845 coal mine accidents last year, an average of 13 deaths a day.

At least 22 people died last Saturday when a pit belonging to a major state-owned mining company in northeastern Liaoning Province was flooded.

(Xinhua News Agency March 15, 2007)