New Delhi, May 23 -- At least 90 people were killed and several others injured after a gas explosion ripped through a coal mine in China's northern Shanxi province, marking one of the country's deadliest mining disasters in recent years.

According to China's state-run news agency Xinhua, the explosion occurred on Friday evening at the Liushenyu coal mine in Changzhi city while 247 workers were on duty underground.

As of Saturday afternoon, nine miners remained missing, while more than 120 people had been admitted to hospitals. State broadcaster CCTV reported that many of the injured suffered from exposure to toxic gas.

Rescue operations were continuing at full scale, with hundreds of emergency responders and medical personnel deployed ...