CHENGDE, Hebei, May 20(Xinhuanet)-- The remains of two victims have been discovered and rescuers are still trying to reach the other 49 miners trapped at the Nuan'erhe Coal Mine in Chengde City, north China after Thursday's gas explosion Thursday, officials said Friday.

A total of 94 professional rescuers are working in teams, trying to locate the trapped miners, said Wang Yushan, head of the city administration of work safety.

The blast occurred at around 3:00 a.m. Thursday when 85 miners working underground. Thirty-four of them were lifted up to the ground, with 51 others trapped by Thursday night.

At around 5:30 a.m. Friday, rescuers reached an area 60 meters from the accident spot, where cave-in was serious, and found the remains of two victims.

Located at Nanzhangzi Village in Bajia Township, the coal mine used to be a state-owned coal mine, but was auctioned to the Beijing Guodian Zhongneng Electric Fuel Investment Co. Ltd. for 65million yuan(7.8 million US dollars) in December 2003.

The coal mine was built at a cost of 20 million yuan(2.4 million US dollars) in 1982 and put into operation in 1987 with a designed production capacity of 210,000 tons a year. One third of its production is coke.

The coal mine was hit by two big gas blasts on Jan. 26 and Jan.27 in 2002, leaving 29 miners dead and 11 others injured.

The Hebei provincial government has decided to overhaul all coal mines in the province to strengthen production safety. Enditem