Twelve people have been killed and 13 others injured in a mining accident in northeast China, state media reported on Thursday.

The incident took place at 3.50pm on Wednesday at a coal mine on the outskirts of Jixi city in Heilongjiang province, broadcaster CCTV said.

The accident – which involved a vehicle in the mine's inclined shaft – "caused 12 deaths and injured 13, and the injured have all been sent to hospital for treatment", CCTV said on Thursday.

"The cause of the accident is still under investigation," the broadcaster added.

In November, an accident at another coal mine in Heilongjiang killed 11 people, and in September, at least 16 were killed in a coal mine fire in Guizhou province.

In February, a coal mine partly collapsed in the remote and sparsely populated Alxa League of the northern Inner Mongolia region after a 180-metre-high slope gave way, killing more than 50 people. (AFP)