Beijing ? At least 44 miners died and 21 remained trapped underground after a gas blast ripped through a coal mine in northern China today, state media said.

The official Xinhua News Agency said the pre-dawn blast occurred while 436 workers were in the Tunlan Coal Mine in Gujiao city near Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi province.

Rescuers said the death toll had risen to 44 by 11 a.m. local time, Xinhua said in a brief dispatch without providing details. State television channel CCTV reported that 21 workers remained trapped.

Although China has worked to cut mine accidents by closing more than 1,000 small, dangerous mines last year, the country’s mining industry is still the world’s deadliest. About 3,200 miners died in accidents last year, a 15 percent improvement over the previous year.