Beijing: Twenty-one coal miners were killed when a coal mine collapsed in northern China, state media reports.

The disaster occurred on Saturday in Shenmu in Shaanxi province in the heart of the country's coal-mining belt, according to state TV and the Xinhua News Agency.

Sixty-six other miners were rescued, the city government said in a statement.

Although conditions have improved, China's coal mining is still the world's most dangerous. Credit:AP

The number of fatalities reported in cave-ins, explosions and other disasters in Chinese coal mines has fallen sharply over the past decade but the industry still is the world's deadliest.

AP