About 170 miners were trapped Sunday in a coalmine in China even as rescue workers brought out some 120 miners following a blast, Xinhua reports.

The condition of those trapped inside the state-owned Chenjiashan coalmine in Shaanxi province was uncertain.

The administration confirmed there were at least 293 miners working underground when the explosion occurred at coal pits far away from the ground entrance.

Those who escaped the explosion were mainly those working near the entrance. Some were poisoned by carbon monoxide, the administration said.

Main provincial party and government leaders including Li Jianguo, secretary of the Shaanxi Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), and Chen Deming, acting governor of Shaanxi, rushed to the site to organise rescue operations.
 
The coalmine has an annual capacity of producing 1.3 million tonnes of coal.

The cause of the accident was under investigation.

--Indo-Asian News Service