ZHENGZHOU - Seven company executives were suspended from duty or removed Monday after 26 miners were killed in a gas explosion in an illegally operated coal mine on Dec 7 in Central China's Henan province, according to the group's spokesman.

Forty-six miners were working underground when the blast occurred at the Juyuan Coal Mine, owned by Juyuan Coal Industry Co Ltd in Mianchi county, Sanmenxia city. The company is being merged into Yi Ma Coal Industry Group.

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Deputy general manager, Li Jianxin, of Yi Ma Coal Industry Group, the mine's prospective parent company, was suspended from duty pending investigation. Li was in charge of the group's merger and regrouping, said the group's spokesman.

Manager Yao Nianshou and four deputy managers who were sent by the group to Juyuan Coal Industry Co Ltd were also removed, he said.

The spokesman said the decisions to discipline the executives have been approved by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of Henan province. The final punishment for those responsible for the incident will be decided based on the findings of the on-going investigation.

Managers of the Juyuan Coal Mine did not obtain a license to excavate coal from the site in Mianchi county, where the explosion occurred. Mine managers also ignored an order to halt production, as the mine's operations are being reorganized as part of the merger.

The mine had been known as the Suzhuang Coal Mine and was later re-launched as Juyuan when it was merged into the large state-owned conglomerate Yi Ma Coal Industry Group.

Police said they arrested the owner of the mine, Suo Yonggang, who allegedly hid the bodies of the victims to lessen the casualty count. Suo fled the mine following the blast.

Mine managers first reported that only 20 miners were trapped when the blast occurred. Provincial work safety authorities updated the figure to 33 and then to 46 as investigators found more bodies in the mine. Only 20 miners survived.