The number of people missing after a gas blast in a coal mine in southwest China on Tuesday has risen to 10 after rescuers discovered an electrician was unaccounted for.

The electrician had been working separately from the nine missing miners and his disappearance was only noticed much later, rescuers said.

The accident occurred at 2:38 AM in the Wangjiazhai coal mine, which belongs to Guizhou Shuicheng Mining Group in Liupanshui, Guizhou Province.

A provincial work safety bureau official said 220 miners were working underground when the accident occurred, 210 of whom were evacuated safely.

The state-run Wangjiazhai pit has an annual production capacity of three million tons. The Pingdong shaft, where the accident occurred, can produce 1.5 million tons of coal a year.

(Xinhua News Agency March 28, 2007)