The Xiangshui mine disaster occurred at 1.05am on Saturday after a gas build up led to an explosion.

There were 28 miners working underground at the time, provincial authorities said. Five were rescued, one of them in critical condition.

Investigators have reportedly blamed inadequate prevention measures for the fatal accident.

The Xinhua newsagency said Pannan Coal Exploitation chairman Lu Hongzhuan, general manager Wu Chao and chief engineer Zhao Qingping were fired on Sunday following an investigation by the State Administration of Work Safety and the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety.

A deputy general manager of the company that controls the coal mine, Guizho Panjiang Group, resigned.

According to Platts, China’s central government has announced it will require provincial governments to perform stricter safety checks on coal mines in their jurisdiction.

Besides the 23 killed at Xiangshui, another two miners died in a separate accident last Wednesday, at a Shanxi-based Lu’an Group metallurgical coal mine.

The Xiangshui coal mine is in the Panxian County of the coal-rich Liupanshui City.

It began operations in 2006 with a designed output of 4 million tonnes per year.

The mine sits atop what is thought to be a 1.3 billion tonne coal deposit.

Its coal feeds Pannan Power Station, considered a key part of the government’s plan to send electricity from its resource-rich west to the power-hungry industry belts in the east.