Jinzhong (China), Aug 24 (Xinhua) At least 11 people were killed in a coal mine gas blast Monday in China's Shanxi province, officials said.

The explosion ripped through a shaft of the Xingguang Coal Industry in Jinzhong City at 11.10 a.m. when 16 miners were working in the area, according to the Coal Industry Administration of Shanxi.

More than 40 rescuers are working to try to send a pipe into the 300-meter-deep shaft to increase ventilation and dilute the gas underground.

Experts are expected to work out a rescue plan Tuesday before sending rescuers underground.

The mine, with a reserve of 203 million tonnes, is part of the Shanxi International Electricity Group Limited Company. It began an approved infrastructure construction in May in an effort to increase its annual production capacity to 1.2 million tonnes from the present 300,000 tonnes.