Rescuers on Friday recovered the bodies of two miners from a coal mine accident in southwest China where 10 workers were trapped when a shaft collapsed on Tuesday.

 

One body was found in the morning and the other in the afternoon, said a spokesman for the Guizhou Provincial Administration of Work Safety.

 

Rescue efforts had been delayed due to the high density of gas beneath the ground and the obstruction of the collapsed shaft, the spokesman said.

 

The operation to clear the tunnel and the search for the other eight miners were continuing after the gas density returned normal, he said.

 

An explosion occurred at 2:38 a.m. Tuesday in the Wangjiazhai Coal Mine, owned by Guizhou Shuicheng Mining Group Co. in Liupanshui, Guizhou.

 

The spokesman said that 220 miners were working underground when the accident occurred, and 210 were evacuated safely.

 

The state-run Wangjiazhai pit has an annual production capacity of three million tons. The Pingdong shaft, where the accident occurred, can produce 1.5 million tons of coal a year.