Police in northeast China's Liaoning Province have arrested another five people for allegedly trying to cover up a coal mine fire in which at least six miners were killed.

Xiang Fangshu, owner of the Dongfang No.1 Coal Mine in Dongliang Town of the Mongolian Autonomous County of Fuxin, was detained on Wednesday.

The number of arrests has reached six with the apprehension of Xiang Fangzhu, the mine owner's younger brother and a deputy head of work safety at the mine, Meng Qingrong, a deputy head of production, Ruan Renwu and Liu Guoyuan, both in charge of operations in the western zone of the mine.

The police also arrested Xiang Fangxiang, the owner's elder brother, who was suspected of helping to cover up the fire by concealing the bodies of the dead miners.

The fire broke out at about 3:40 PM on Sunday when 35 miners were working below ground. Six miners were suffocated by the fumes and 15 were injured.

Only 14 miners managed to escape unhurt from the mine.

The injured miners, mostly suffering from severe burns, are being treated in the local hospital.

Xiang Fangshu allegedly attempted to handle the accident himself and failed to report it to local work safety authorities, but on Monday afternoon the disaster was reported by someone close to the company.

Xiang allegedly admitted the fire to a team that went to investigate.

The privately-run mine is licensed with an approved production capacity of 50,000 tons a year. It produced 48,000 tons last year.

When the fire broke out, the mine was reportedly preparing to resume production following a suspension for safety reasons.

All coal mines in the area were ordered to suspend production on Feb. 10 and were prohibited from resuming operations if they failed to meet local authorities' safety requirements.

Twenty-three miners died on March 10 when another coal mine in the province flooded.

(Xinhua News Agency March 23, 2007)