(Adds details of new safety rules, paragraphs 6-8)

BEIJING, April 20 (Reuters) - A burst of gas trapped 11 coal miners in north China on Friday, Xinhua news agency said, the second such accident in the area in two days.

The burst, in which gas, coal and rock are expelled at high speed without catching fire, happened at the Taoer colliery in Handan, Hebei province, 440 km (270 miles) south of Beijing when 17 miners were underground, Xinhua said.

A similar accident killed nine and left eight missing on Thursday in another Handan colliery when 313 people were working underground, Xinhua said. Both mines are state-run.

Thirty-three coal miners were feared dead in neighbouring Henan province after a gas blast on Monday left the Wangzhuang mine "a sea of fire".

China has the world's deadliest coal mining industry, with 4,746 Chinese coal miners killed in thousands of gas blasts, floods and other accidents in 2006 as mine owners pushed production beyond safety limits in the face of surging profits.

On Friday, China announced rules intended to deter officials and employers from concealing industrial accidents -- a widespread problem in the accident-prone country -- Xinhua reported.

"At the same time that the economy has enjoyed sustained rapid growth, production safety has faced dire circumstances," an unnamed safety official told Xinhua.

Bosses who do not organise rescues, report accidents incompletely or late, or who flee their posts after an accident, can be fined up to 80 percent of their annual income and face prosecution, state the rules that take effect from June 1.

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