The explosion occurred Sunday at around 5.00pm local time at the county-owned mine in central China's Hunan Province, according to official news agency Xinhuanet.
High levels of gas underground have prevented any rescue attempts.
In other news from the region, five miners were rescued Saturday morning, three days after a coal mine flooding accident in southwest China's Guizhou Province.
Nine miners were trapped Tuesday in the coal mine of Niuchang Township of Fuquan City. Four of them are still missing.
Latest word from the Shuijingtou Coal Mine in Shaodong County, where a blast Thursday left nine miners trapped underground, is that the body of another miner has been found, bringing the death toll to four.
Of the nine, two miners have since escaped and another was later saved by rescuers; however, five miners remain trapped. Gas prevented rescuers from entering the coal mine until Friday afternoon, when a fire in the shaft beneath the coal mine was brought under control, Xinhuanet said.
