Dozens of relatives crowded on Wednesday afternoon at the narrow corridor in front of the ICU at the General Hospital of Liaoning Fuxin Coal Corp, where nine of the 50 people injured in a fatal coal mine fire remained hospitalized. At least 26 others were killed in the disaster earlier in the day.

The blaze occurred at 2:35 am when 89 miners were working in a coal mine operated by Hengda Coal, a subsidiary of the State-owned Fuxin Coal Corp, a major coal producer in Northeast China.

An initial investigation showed that coal dust in a shaft ignited.