Beijing  - A gas explosion trapped about 100 miners underground at a coal mine in the northern Chinese province of Shanxi on Sunday, state media said.

The blast ripped through the mine belonging to the Shanxi Jiaomei coal group in Gujiao city at 2 am as 436 miners were working underground, the official Xinhua news agency said.

The agency said 96 miners were trapped undergound but a later report by the semi-official China News Service said the number trapped was believed to be 113. (dpa)