TAIYUAN, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- More than 20 miners have died after a coal mine blast in north China's Shanxi Province on Sunday while rescuers are pulling out the trapped from the shaft, according to a rescuer at the site.

Rescue workers prepare to get into the coal mine to look for survivors in north China's Shanxi Province, Feb. 22, 2009. More than 40 miners have died after a coal mine blast occurred at about 2: 00 a.m. Sunday at the Tunlan Coal Mine of Shanxi Coking Coal Group in Gujiao City near Taiyuan, capital of north China's Shanxi Province, while rescuers are pulling out the trapped from the shaft, according to a rescuer at the site. (Xinhua/Yan Yan) Photo Gallery>>>

    Zhang Hanwei, from the Shanxi Renmin Hospital directing the emergency medical treatment at the mine pit, revealed the death toll without clarifying whether the number included the 11 dead in hospital as previously reported or only counted the new discovered among the trapped.

    The accident occurred at about 2: 00 a.m. Sunday at the Tunlan Coal Mine of Shanxi Coking Coal Group in Gujiao City near Taiyuan, the provincial capital, when 436 miners were working underground.

    A total of 340 miners managed to get out after the blast. Among them, 114 were taken into hospital, where the 11 workers failed emergency rescue and 24 others are still in critical condition.

    Zhang Baoshun, the provincial Communist Party committee chief, who is leading the rescue work at the accident site, urged to use scientific methods in rescue to prevent secondary disasters.

    So far, 57 rescuers from seven professional rescue teams have arrived at the mine to search for the trapped workers.

    More than 40 ambulances have been called to the accident site.

    All of the 68 hyperbaric oxygenc chambers in hospitals in Taiyuan are open for admitting the injured miners.

    The Shanxi Coking Coal Group is one of China's largest coking coal producers. The Tunlan Coal Mine has an annual production capacity of 5 million tonnes.