A gas explosion trapped 22 miners underground at acoal mine in the north-western Chinese region of Xinjiang on Friday, officials said according to dpa. The explosion ripped through a shaft at the Baiyanggou coal mine in Xinjiang's Hutubi county around 1:30 am (1730 GMT Thursday) as 34 miners were working. Twelve miners escaped after the explosion and the remainder were missing underground, a county official told dpa by telephone. Rescue teams and fire fighters were at the mine awaiting the results of underground inspections by safety experts, the official Xinhua news agency reported.