Eleven workers were killed Saturday morning and two others injured in an accident at a coal mine, which was under construction, in north China's Shanxi Province.

The workers died of asphyxia after they went underground to construct the mine in Shuozhou city, said Li Yunjiang, board chairman of the Zheneng Majialiang company of the Datong Coal Mine Group.

Seventeen people were working underground at the time of accident and four managed to escape.

(Xinhua News Agency May 16, 2009)