The blast occurred Tuesday afternoon at the privately owned mine in the city of Tongchuan while 40 miners were working underground. Eleven escaped shortly after the accident. Of four injured miners, one died at hospital while the three others are still being treated.

The Jinsuo colliery employs about 130 people and produces 30,000 tonnes per annum. Work safety authorities are investigating the cause of the blast and police have detained the mine owner.

Meanwhile, four of the seven miners trapped in Sunday's coal mine flooding in Xin'an county in central China's Henan province are dead.

Following over 60 hours of searching, rescuers brought three surviving miners to the surface and retrieved the bodies of the four dead men.