Sixty miners were confirmed killed by a powerful gas explosion at a coal mine in Shuozhou, North China's Shanxi Province. (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. (newsphoto)

    SHUOZHOU, Shanxi, March 20 (Xinhuanet) -- Sixty miners were confirmed dead in the coal mine explosion in northern Shanxi Province as one more bodies was found in the Xishui Colliery on Saturday evening, according to the rescue headquarters at the site.

    Rescuers told Xinhua they have found bodies of all 19 trapped miners in the Kangjiayao Coal Mine, and 41 others were discovered in Xishui Coal Mine.

    Eight rescue teams are searching for mine miners still trapped underground, according to sources with the rescue headquarters.

    The powerful blast ripped through the Xishui Coal Mine at Saturday noon in Shuozhou, a city in a major coal-mining area in Shanxi province, and immediately caused a wall to collapse in the neighboring Kangjiayao coal mine.

    Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao have demanded relevant departments try their best to save the trapped and instructed rescuers to pay attention to their own safety. Theyalso mentioned to offer appropriate comfort for victims' families.

    Li Yizhong, director of the General Administration of Work Safety (GAWS), and Zhao Tiechui, director of the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety under the GAWS, have arrived atShuozhou earlier Sunday morning to direct the rescue operation.

    Built in 1993, Xishui Coal Mine is licensed with an annual output of 150,000 tons of coal. But the mine was ordered to suspend production after safety problems last November, according to the provincial supervision office of coal mine production.

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

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