Out of a total of 28 miners working at the site on Saturday, the explosion killed the majority while 5 were rescued and one was found critical.
The 4 million metric tons a year underground mine is located in Panxian County of Guizhou province above a 1.3 billion tons coal deposit.
Pannan Power Station is the recipient of the mine’s coal output, and electricity from the power station is transmitted to the industrial regions in Eastern China.
The mine’s operator Pannan Coal Exploitation had failed to implement preventive measures despite past coal gas explosions, chinadaily.com reported.
Pannan, according to authorities, must compensate every killed miner with 1.04 million yuan ($166,000).
Statistics from State Administration of Coal Mine Safety report that 1,146 people were killed from 650 Chinese mining accidents this year, largely due to illegal mines.
