Rescuers have recovered 66 bodies from a coalmine that was devastated by a blast in the wee hours of Monday morning in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

The explosion happened at about 2:30 AM Monday at the Shenlong Coalmine in Fukang County. 87 miners were working underground at the time, local sources said.

As at 00:30 on Tuesday, 17 miners were still missing.

Four people escaped from the scene, said Wang Yongzhu, deputy director of the Xinjiang Coal Mine Safety Supervision Administration.

It was reported that a working group headed by Li Yizhong, head of State Administration of Work Safety, and Zhao Tiechui, head of Administration of State Coal Mine Safety Supervision, has arrived at Shenlong, to lead rescue operations and oversee investigations into the blast.

The coalmine is alleged to have been operating illegally, and is notorious for serious over-production. It's also reported that mine operators did not have a safety production license as is required by law.

(Xinhua News Agency, China.org.cn July 12, 2005)