The blast on Wednesday afternoon at the Liuguantun Colliery near Tangshan in Hebei province trapped 104 of the 186 people working underground at the time, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Rescuers managed to bring out 31 of the trapped and found 51 bodies, although three of the initial survivors died later from their injuriues, the news agency said.

It comes 11 days after another gas explosion at the state-run Dongfeng coal mine near Qitaihe city in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang killed 171 people, one of the worst mine accidents in recent years.

Rescuers were searching overnight in freezing conditions for those trapped while the vice provincial governor Fu Shuangjian and leading officials rushed to the spot, state media and officials said.

An AFP reporter at the scene shortly after midnight said several police cars were parked at the entrance to the mine, which was close to a community of run-down red-brick houses.

About 10 police officers, wearing thick army coats to shield them from temperatures of well below zero, sat inside a shed smoking as the smell of coal hung thick in the air.

There was no sign of rescue operations or ambulances and no relatives waiting to discover the fate of loved-ones.

An official from the coal mine's district safety office said the mine shaft, owned by a company called Hengyuan Co. Ltd., was still under construction.

"They haven't started collecting coal from there yet," the official surnamed Zhang told AFP.

The Liuguantun mine, 164 kilometers (101 miles) from Beijing, was formerly state-owned but is now privately-run, according to the China News Service website. It produces 150,000 tons of coal a year, the website said.

Hebei province's vice governor Fu Shuangjian and the directors of the State Administration of Work Safety and the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety have rushed to the scene to direct the rescue and organize an investigation into the accident, state media and the administration's website said.

Chinese authorities were already trying to deal with the aftermath of the earlier disaster on November 27.

Like many others the Heilongjiang mine operated illegally and relatives of the victims said owners had ignored hazards, putting lives at risk so they can turn a quick profit.

Even as Wednesday's disaster was reported, officials in the central province of Henan were struggling to rescue 42 miners trapped in a flooded coal mine for five days.

Officials maintained hope the miners may still be alive despite being stranded since shortly before midnight Friday when the Sigou mine in Xin'an county suddenly flooded.

Rescuers employed desperate measures Wednesday to try to save the miners, including drilling two holes leading to the flooded shaft, through which they played music and called out the missing miners' names using a microphone they dropped into the pit.

However there was no response.

Working around the clock, rescuers have also been pumping water from the mine, and had lowered the water level by 20 meters (66 feet) over the past five days, Xinhua quoted rescue officials as saying.

Five divers have been dispatched to help in the search.

The privately run mine had ignored orders to shut down and operated without a license, according to Xinhua, which said Wednesday 10 people wanted for their role in the accident had been arrested including the mine boss.

It said that under a rule which took effect in Henan on Tuesday, collieries engaging in illegal operations which suffer fatal accidents will be fined one million yuan (123,000 dollars) for each death.

Unlicensed mines will be fined between two and five million yuan and forced to close, Xinhua said.

China's mining industry is one of the world's most dangerous, with mines paying little heed to safety standards as they scramble to meet rising demand for coal to fuel the nation's rapid development.

Over 6,000 miners died in work safety accidents last year, according to government statistics, while labor rights groups say the annual mine death toll could be as high as 20,000 since operators cover up deaths.

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