BEIJING » A coal mine shaft collapsed in northwestern China, killing 16 miners, China’s official news agency said Saturday.

Another 11 miners were injured in the disaster that struck just before midnight Friday in Tiechanggou township outside the Xinjiang regional capital of Urumqi.

China’s mines are among the most dangerous in the world, although improved safety measures have vastly lowered the death toll in recent years.

Officials from the government’s work safety watchdog say they were looking into the matter. A man who answered the phone at the mine’s offices said he could not comment and calls to the Xinjiang regional safety administration rang unanswered.