Twenty-one coal miners were confirmed dead after a gas explosion on Friday morning in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, the region's emergency response office said.

The blast occurred at about 1:26 am as 34 miners worked underground at the Baiyanggou coal mine in the Changji Hui autonomous prefecture, the local government said.

Twelve miners managed to escape immediately after the explosion, but the rest were trapped underground. On Friday afternoon, rescuers pulled one worker out of the rubble.