Seventeen miners were confirmed dead and more than 50 were trapped underground after a powerful gas explosion at a coal mine in northern China. (Xinhua)

Rescuers try to work out a rescue plan. Police detained the four owners of a coal mine in northern Shanxi Province. (Xinhua)

Relatives of a victim in a coal mine blast in Shuozhou, North China's Shanxi Province weeps March 19. The explosion left 17 miners dead and 52 others trapped. (newsphoto)

    TAIYUAN, March 19 (Xinhuanet) -- Police detained the four owners of a coal mine in northern Shanxi Province, the site of Saturday's fatal gas explosion.

    Seventeen miners have been confirmed dead and six rescue teams are searching for the remaining 52 trapped men, said Liu Jiwen, a rescue consultant at the site.

    The blast occurred at 12:15 p.m. at the Xishui mine in Pinglu, a district in the city of Shuozhou. Sixty-nine miners were trapped underground including 20 miners who were working in a neighboring coal pit owned by another mine.

    Built in 1993, Xishui Mine is licensed with an annual output of150,000 tons of coal. But the mine was ordered to suspend production after safety problems last November, said an official with the provincial supervision office of coal mine production.

    "In defiance of the order, however, mine owners have restarted production this year," said the official.

    The other coal mine, Kangjiayao, that fell the victim of Saturday's explosion, is a normal mine with governmental approval for production.

    Zhang Baoshun, governor of Shanxi, arrived at the scene to direct rescue and investigation work.

    The provincial government has ordered the suspension of production in mines that fail to meet safety measures. Enditem