The state-run media cited local government as saying cables caught fire at the mine on Monday night in Xinmi City in Zhengzhou, the capital of central Henan province.

A rescue operation that ended in the early hours of Tuesday saved six miners while all other miners have been accounted for.

An initial investigation showed the mine was operating legally and at least three mine managers have been detained. Chinese authorities have frozen their and the mine's assets, according to the Xinhua news agency.

Meanwhile, a rescue campaign was aborted as 31 miners trapped underground in a flooded coal mine in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region were believed to have no chance of survival, according to a rescue official.

A total of 77 miners were working underground at the Luotuoshan Coal Mine at the time of the accident.

One miner was found to be dead while 45 were rescued. Luotuoshan is owned by Wuhai Energy, part of the Shenhua Group, the country's largest coal producer.

China closed 1088 small coal mines last year because they were deemed to be unsafe, the official Xinhua News Agency reported, quoting the head of the Administration of Coal Mine Safety.

The number of deaths from coal mine accidents dropped 18% to 2631 in 2009, the news agency said.

Small mines accounted for 35% of China’s coal output and were responsible for 70% of the fatalities, the safety administration’s Zhao Tiechui was quoted as saying.

China phased out 50 million metric tons of “outdated” annual coal production capacity last year, Xinhua said.