BEIJING, Jan 29 (Reuters) - A gas explosion in southwest China killed 11 coal miners on Sunday and five others were missing, Xinhua news agency reported.

The accident occurred in the Yile Coal Mine at Panxian County, Xinhua reported, citing a spokesman for the Guizhou Provincial Administration of Coal Mine Safety.

Twenty-five miners were working underground when the blast occurred, and only nine managed to escape, the spokesman said.

The owner of the coal mine, which has an annual output capacity of 60,000 tonnes, has been taken into custody, he said.

The cause of the blast was under investigation.

Deaths in Chinese coal mines, the world's deadliest, fell by 20 percent in 2006 while output grew by about 200 million tonnes.

An average 13 miners a day, or a total of 4,746 people, died in thousands of blasts, floods and other mine accidents last year.

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