(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-08-26 13:58

HOHHOT -- Rescuers have retrieved the bodies of seven miners killed in a coal mine gas explosion in North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, local work safety watchdog said on Sunday.

The bodies were lifted out of the Liyuan coal mine in Holin Gol City in the east of the region at 5:17 am Sunday, the regional work safety bureau said.

A gas blast occurred around 2:10 am Saturday in the Liyuan mine when 23 people were working underground. Seven were killed and the rest managed to escape.

Local police have detained several people from the mine, and are hunting for another runaway shareholder of mine.

Investigators said the mine was under technical renovation and it should not have been operating when the accident happened.

All coal mines in the city were ordered to halt production for safety checks after the blast.