BEIJING, China -- Chinese government officials said 28 miners have died after an electrical cable caught fire inside a coal shaft.

An official with the State Administration of Work Safety said the accident happened Saturday evening at the privately owned Xiaonangou coal mine in Sangshuping town in northern Shaanxi Province. He declined to give his name as is customary with Chinese officials.

He said Sunday that all the 28 miners working in the shaft were killed when the underground cable caught fire.

The official Xinhua News Agency said that rescuers had retrieved the bodies of five miners by Sunday morning. (AP)