Rescuers have retrieved the bodies of the six missing miners at 11 a.m. Saturday, bringing up the death toll to 19 in the gas blast that hit a colliery in southwest China's Guizhou Province.

A blast ripped through the Xincheng coal mine in Panxian County, Liupanshui City, at 0:30 a.m. Saturday when 34 mine workers were working underground, the county government said in a statement.

Fifteen mine managed to escape, it said.

An investigation into the cause of the explosion is underway.