Rescuers found four more bodies on Monday night, while the body of another miner had been "hidden," Xinhua news agency said without explanation.

The blast occurred on January 20 as a group of miners illegally opened up the mine in Shanxi province in an effort to cash in on the rising price of coal, the report said.

The gas explosion occurred before miners had started digging in the mine that had been previously shut down by government order, it said.

Police have so far arrested one of the organisers of the illegal dig, while a group of others are still being sought.

China is the world's largest producer and consumer of coal. Demand has continued to rise with the boom in the nation's economy.

China's coal mines took nearly 3,800 lives in 2007, down 20 percent from the year before, the government and state press reported earlier this month.

However, independent labour groups have long maintained that China's mining death toll is much higher than the government says, with local bosses and regional leaders covering up accidents to avoid fines and costly shut-downs.

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