The death toll of the coal mine explosion has increased to 19 Monday morning in Yuxian county of north China's Hebei Province.
 
The rescue work is still going on as one miner is still missing, said rescuers at the site.

The gas blast occurred at 11:03 am Sunday at the Longtai Coal Mine in Yuxian when 29 miners were working about 380 meters underground. Nine miners were saved and others were stranded underground.

As of 8:00 pm Sunday, rescuers had found 16 bodies. By 2:50 am Monday morning, rescuers found another three bodies.

On the death list, one was deputy manager of the mine, two were gas technicians. Most of these miners came from local areas, while some from Henan, Shanxi, Sichuan provinces and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

Officials with the provincial government have arrived at the site to monitor rescue efforts and investigate the cause of the blast. All mines in the county have been closed for safety check so far.

The Longtai Coal Mine has an annual capacity of 50,000 tons.

(Xinhua News Agency December 8, 2003)