Xinhua reported that the death toll from a gas explosion in a coal mine in Hegang City in northeast China's Helongjiang Province has risen to 87, with 21 other miners still trapped.

As per report, the whereabouts of eight of the trapped miners have been located in the pit.

A total of 528 miners were working underground at the time of the blast at around 2:30 AM on Saturday. Among them, 415 have escaped the accident.

The gas outburst in Xinxing Coal Mine, run by the state-owned Heilongjiang Longmei Mining Holding Group's subsidiary in Hegang City, happened 500 meters underground.

The Xinxing Coal Mine, located over 400 km east of the provincial capital of Harbin, has an approved annual production capacity of 1.45 million tonnes. Longmei's Hegang subsidiary has an annual coal output of 12 million tonnes and a verified coal reserve of 3 billion tonnes.

(Sourced from China Daily)