Sixty-three workers are dead and 23 more are missing after a gas explosion ripped through the Luling coal mine in Anhui Province, local authorities said.

The Anhui provincial work safety bureau noted that 113 miners were working underground at the time of the accident and 27 have been rescued. They have found 63 bodies and the searching work is still going on, the bureau said, adding that another 23 miners are still missing.

The blast struck the registered mine shortly after 4:00 pm (0800 GMT) Tuesday.

The cause of the blast is still under investigation.

(China Daily May 14, 2003)