Press reports quoted Zhao Tiechui, deputy head of the state work safety agency, as saying overcrowded shafts were among the factors in the disaster at the Xingxing mine in northeast China.

"Excessively large coal faces being mined, too many people below ground and insufficient ventilation were factors in the accident," Zhao was quoted saying by various media.

The explosion tore through the mine in the rust-belt city of Hegang early Saturday when more than 500 miners were below ground, officials said.

Zhang Fucheng, who has led the rescue effort in frigid Heilongjiang province, said the four miners still missing had not yet been reached but would not be pulled out alive.

"We are in the process of digging out the four people. They are definitely dead. They have no oxygen," Zhang told reporters.

The sober assessment appeared to snuff out the final glimmer of hope in the horrific accident, China's worst mine disaster in at least two years.

Relatives of victims have angrily demanded answers about the disaster as officials said a preliminary investigation pointed to poor management at the mine, one of China's oldest and largest.

There was a heavy police presence at the mine, apparently aimed at preventing protests, but the area was otherwise quiet on Tuesday.

The state-run Global Times newspaper reported that safety authorities had recently granted the mine a clean safety record.

The head, deputy head and chief engineer of the mine have been removed from their posts, state press reports have said.

Qi Weiping, an official with the majority state-owned Heilongjiang Longmay Mining Holding Group that owns the mine, also hinted at shortcomings during a briefing to reporters.

"As China is currently modernising and industrialising, the situation in some areas is not yet up to the overall level of development," Qi said.

He declined further comment, citing the ongoing investigation.

The accident was the worst in energy-hungry China since an explosion killed 105 miners in Shanxi province in December 2007, although confirmation of the final four deaths would take it past that toll.

The tragedy has reignited concern over poor safety and working conditions in the country's mining sector.

Authorities have announced compensation of up to 300,000 yuan (44,000 dollars) for relatives of dead miners as they moved to try to quell public anger and as formal mourning of the dead began.

The government was eager to get families of victims to sign compensation agreements as an important step toward resolving the tragedy, press reports said.

Recovering miners began to recount their stories of survival in the hours following the blast.

Cui Liren, 46, told Xinhua news agency he was knocked unconscious for a time and badly injured in the blast. He then spent nine painful hours crawling out through the pitch-black mine.

Psychologists have been brought in to help survivors and relatives of victims cope with the disaster, which also injured more than 60 people.

An injured miner who gave only his surname Wang hinted at the emotional damage as he recuperated at a hospital in Hegang.

He was preparing to go down the mine when the explosion occurred, and the blast of air from the explosion hit him in the face, leaving his now-bandaged face with cuts and burns.

"We all got along well every day," he said of colleagues who did not make it out alive. "My heart is really heavy. They never made it back up."

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