LINFEN, Shanxi, March 29 (Xinhua) -- Rescuers have recovered seven more bodies after Wednesday's coal mine blast in north China's coal-rich province of Shanxi, bringing the total number of deaths to 26, local authorities said on Thursday.

    The gas explosion occurred at around 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday at the Yujialing Coal Mine located at the Yipingyuan Township, Yaodu District of Linfen City, about 300 km southwest of Taiyuan, the provincial capital.

    In total, 106 miners were working underground, and only 80 managed to escape, including one who was injured severely, according to the local rescue team led by provincial deputy governor Jin Shanzhong.

    Dai Yunzhi, 43, who suffered a broken neck and serious burns, is receiving treatment at a local hospital. His wife said he had only worked in the mine for three days. Ji Zeming, a doctor in the hospital, said Dai was in a stable condition now.

    Most other victims are from neighboring Shaanxi Province and northwest Gansu Province, local rescue workers said.

    47-year-old Li Fuquan, who survived the blast, said he was working with five folks in a shaft when the blast happened. "I felt a huge shock, and I couldn't hear anything for a while after the explosion, and there was also pungent smoke," he said.

    "I heard a thumping noise, and the grid which covered the ventilation outlet was blown up. Then I realize something horrible must have happened," said Jia Zihai, a miner in his twenties from the neighboring Shaanxi province.

    Jia was repairing his cart on the ground at the time of the blast, and his four relatives, who were mining under the ground, were killed in the blast.

    More than 100 rescuers, including local coal mine salvation teams and the local police, tried to save the 26 miners who were trapped in the mine.

    Rescuers who went down the shafts said the underground shafts were over-exploited, and have turned porous like "spiders' webs." They said the tunnels were stifling and poorly ventilated, and some of them were filled with carbon monoxide.

    Mine owner Zhou Xiaogen and senior manager Li Mingshun, along with several others, have been held in custody, local police said. Preliminary investigations show that working conditions in the mine were unsafe and chaotic before the accident occurred, the police said.

    Yu Youjun, governor of Shanxi, said they will overhaul all mines in the province, and close down any mine that violates safety rules or operates with no licence. He also encouraged the people to report illegal mining operations.

    The coal mine claimed its annual output capacity was 150,000 tons, but its production licence, which showed an annual capacity of 90,000 tons, had expired, according to local coal mine safety authorities.

    This is the second coal mine gas explosion in Shanxi, China's major coal producing base, in 10 days, following another accident in Jincheng City on March 18, which killed 21 miners.

    It is also the second coal mine accident in four months to strike Linfen, a major coal-producing city and home to more than 400 mines. 24 miners were killed in the blast, which struck Luweitan colliery in the city on Nov. 27, 2006. The mine's production permit and safety license had both expired before the accident.

    Coal mine accidents killed 4,746 people in 2006 and 357 in the first two months of this year, figures from the State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS) show.

    China has set a goal of reducing the death rate to 2.1 fatalities for every 1 million tons of coal produced by 2010, down from 2.81 fatalities in 2005. The 2005 figure was 70 times the United States figure and seven times the figures in Russia and India.