DAR ES SALAAM, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Sixteen miners were killed and 20 others injured in a mine accident on Tuesday in Mwanza region in northern Tanzania, the local newspaper Daily News reported on Wednesday.

The incident that occurred on Tuesday afternoon at Sobora village involved 60 miners who were buried from the caving in one of the big shafts of the mine, the report said.

Sixteen people had lost their lives in the accident but only four bodies had so far been retrieved, according to information from the Mwanza Regional Police Commander Simon Siro, who added that efforts to retrieve other bodies were going on.

However, Masanja Jamatoni from the scene of accident said that by Tuesday evening all 16 bodies pulled out of the mine had been collected by relatives for burial while digging was still on to retrieve other bodies, the report added.

Jamatoni noted that there were 60 of miners in the mine for digging after it was established there was gold in it. He was one of the lucky ones who survived when all of a sudden a heap of sand buried them.