Reports from China say rescue teams have recovered the bodies of 10 workers killed in a gas explosion at a coal mine in the north-eastern province of Heilongjiang.

The Xinhua news agency quoted officials at the mine in the city of Jixi as saying another worker is missing and there was little hope he would be found alive.

The explosion has been blamed on illegal operations at the mine

Xinhua news agency

The Lixin Coal Mine in Jixi was being run illegally and should have been closed for safety checks at the time of the blast, state media said.

The accident is the latest in a long line of tragedies which have made Chinese mines the deadliest in the world.

In June, 115 workers were killed at another mine in Jixi in the fourth deadliest accident in China's history, official media said.

More than 3,500 workers have been killed so far this year in Chinese mines.

While thousands of operations are closed down each year in regular safety crackdowns, many reopen as soon as inspectors leave.

The Xinhua report on Monday's accident quoted sources within the provincial government and said: "The explosion has been blamed on illegal operations at the mine".

On Sunday, eight miners were confirmed dead after two days of rescue efforts failed at a flooded coal mine in the central province of Henan, Xinhua said.

Last week one man was found alive from a mine shaft in the northern Shanxi province where he had been trapped underground by a fire.

Eighteen of his colleagues died.