Up to 20 children are feared dead in a blast in northern China, believed to have been caused by mining explosives stored in a house near a school.

Local media said that 20 children died and the elementary school was badly damaged in the blast yesterday afternoon in Huogou village, Shanxi province. However, the Communist Party secretary of Kecheng township, who governs the village, claimed that just eight adults and two children died.

"The adults were all men and the two children were girls. Seven people have been injured. The owner of the explosives also died," he said.

Amid contradictory reports, the state-run Xinhua news agency put the death toll at 11.

A journalist from the local Shanxi Metropolitan Daily said that police had isolated the area and were not allowing reporters near the school. She said that the school was very small and had about 18 pupils: "A few students died and nine were injured. The explosion killed many people in the homes around the blast."

The reporter feared that officials would try to cover up the explosion because it happened days before the annual meeting of the National People's Congress, or parliament, in Beijing. It is traditionally a politically sensitive time when the central government takes a dim view of local man-made disasters.

As the blast occurred at a school, concealing it would be more difficult, she added.

Officials from Linfen city government, the region's political centre, have gone to the village to oversee an investigation into the accident.

The explosives were being stored in the home of local mine operator, Lu Maolin, who died in the blast. His wife was also injured, the Beijing News reported. Investigators have not yet ruled out the possibility of suicide.

Shanxi province is China's largest coal mining region, and mining accidents occur regularly. Such disasters and deadly accidents are routinely covered up in China, as officials fear losing their jobs or having to pay fines.

The New York-based Human Rights in China claimed today that the government in neighbouring Hebei province has tried to cover up the deaths of five child workers who were asphyxiated in their factory dormitory in December.

"In spite of the local government's suppressive efforts, news of the tragedy has gradually leaked out and raised considerable concern in the community," the group said.

Last month, the most recent in a catalogue of mine explosions in Shanxi province claimed the lives of at least 200 miners. The death toll was the worst since the Communist revolution in 1949.

In November, an explosion at Chenjiashan mine in Shanxi killed 166 and another the month before in Henan province claimed the lives of a further 148 men.

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