China mine blast death toll climbs

BEIJING, China (CNN) -- Rescue teams on Friday recovered more bodies following a powerful gas explosion at the Xinyao Coal Mine in northern China's Shanxi province, bringing the death toll 105, according to China's state-run Xinhua news agency.

It was uncertain how many workers were in the mine at the time of the blast. In earlier reporting, Xinhua said 15 miners had escaped or been rescued.

The explosion occurred late Wednesday in the village of Zuomu, near Linfen, Xinhua reported.

Rescue officials told Xinhua that they believed mine managers "delayed reporting the accident while they tried to mount their own operations, which meant that a crucial window of time for rescue passed and casualties probably increased."

According to Xinhua, the mine is owned by Ruizhiyuan Mining Co. and is licensed it to produce 210,000 tons of coal annually.

Mine disasters are common in China. There were nearly 2,000 coal mining accidents through October of this year alone, which left more than 3,000 people dead, according to earlier reports published by Xinhua. Some 6,300 died in mining accidents in 2003.

In early November, a few dozen coal miners were killed in a gas leak in a coal mine in southwest China's Guizhou province. And in August, heavy rains poured into a coal mine in east China's Shandong province, trapping more than 170 miners beneath the surface, Xinhua reported. E-mail to a friend