Three coal mine principals have been placed in police custody after an outburst of coal and gas killed 21 miners in southwestern Guizhou Province, local police said on Wednesday.
The accident happened at around 8 p.m. on Tuesday at Machang Coal Mine, which belongs to Gemudi Company of Guizhou Water & Mining Group.
As of 6 p.m. on Wednesday, rescuers are still searching for four miners who remain missing following the blast.
Eighty-three miners were working in the pit, with 58 escaping.
Deng Feng, head of Machang Coal Mine, and the mine's technical and security principals, Zhang Changhe and Liu Minyu, have been removed from their posts and are now in police custody.
Gao Liangyu, chairman and president of Gemudi, and Yu Zhiguo, the vice president, who was responsible for safety in the coal mine, have been forced to resign.
Speaking at the site, Huang Yuzhi, deputy director of the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety, said rescuers would work all-out to search for the missing miners.
The accident is under further investigation.
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