Baiyin City of northwest China's Gansu Province has urged all local small coal mines to suspend production and do safety check-ups following a coal mine gas burning that claimed five lives Sunday.

Investigation into the cause of the accident is still under way, according to local government sources on Tuesday.

The gas burning occurred at about 3:00 PM Sunday when seven miners were working in the Jinyuan Coal Mine in Pingchuan District of Baiyin City. Two of them escaped out of the mine and reported the accident to the coal mine contractor Wang Yong.

Wang immediately sent people down to the shaft to rescue the other five miners, who were found dead due to gas burning and oxygen deficit.

Jinyuan Coal Mine is a collectively-owned mine which is contracted by Wang Yong, a farmer of Manshuitan Township of Jingtai County.

Initial investigations show that open fire ignited the gas that burst out suddenly.

(Xinhua News Agency March 7, 2006)