An angle belt caught fire about 11pm Friday at a state-owned colliery in the city of Jixi, Hialongjiang province and only sixteen people were pulled to safety, it said.

No reason for the fire has been given and one miner is still missing.

Blasts killed more than 145 people in Tianjin in August, a week after blasts shook Shandong and another blast hit Shandong in September.