All 13 trapped in mine blast dead

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BEIJING, Jan. 24 (UPI) -- Chinese rescuers Thursday confirmed all 13 workers trapped following a mine blast last week in southwest Guizhou province had died.

Xinhua News Agency reported the body of the 13th victim was retrieved early Thursday.

The report said rescue operations involved removing 1,400 cubic meters or about 2,000 tons of coal from the shaft of the Jinjia Coal mine in the province's Liupanshui city and cleaning out about 381,000 cubic meters of gas out of the mine.

The Friday evening blast was blamed on a high density of gas.

The mine with an annual capacity of 1.8 million tons of coal is state-owned and operated by the Guizhou Panjiang Clean Coal Co Ltd., the report said.

The blast was being investigated.