Death toll rises to 19 in SW China colliery blast

GUIYANG, China. March 12. KAZINFORM Rescuers have retrieved the bodies of the six missing miners at 11 am Saturday, bringing up the death toll to 19 in the gas blast that hit a colliery in Southwest China's Guizhou province; Kazinform refers to China Daily.

A blast ripped through the Xincheng coal mine in Panxian county, Liupanshui city, at 0:30 am Saturday when 34 mine workers were working underground, the county government said in a statement. Fifteen mine managed to escape, it said.

An investigation into the cause of the explosion is underway.