Five people were killed and one missing in a coal mine gas blast on Thursday evening in northeast China's Liaoning Province, local work safety bureau confirmed on Friday.

The explosion occurred at 7 p.m. in the Hengchang Coal Mine in Jianchang County, 400 kilometers from Shenyang, the provincial capital.

Officials from the provincial work safety bureau said 22 miners were working underground when the accident happened. Sixteen of them survived.

The officials gave no details about the blast. They are making full efforts to rescue the missing miner.

Hengchang, a private coal production venture, has annual production capacity of 50,000 tons.

(Xinhua News Agency December 23, 2006)