A gas explosion killed 10 miners and left five missing at a coal mine in northern China's Shanxi province, state media said on Saturday. A total of 99 miners were underground at the Xiaowangou coal mine when the explosion ripped through an underground shaft on Friday, the official Xinhua news agency said. Seventy-nine miners escaped unhurt and five more were rescued after the explosion, the agency said. Rescue workers recovered 10 bodies and were searching for the five missing miners, it said. Coal mining accidents kill at least 5,000 people annually in China, according to official statistics, although deaths in small or illegal mines often go unreported.
