China has sentenced to death and executed six men who committed murders and used the bodies to file fake insurance claims.

The Linfen People's Intermediate Court in northern China’s Shanxi Province handed down the sentence, after the men were convicted of killing 11 miners and obtaining US$460,371 in fraudulent insurance claims between 2007 and 2014, Global Times reported.

The victims were lured into the lower levels of the mining pits, where they were killed using tools or explosive blasts, likely to disguise the crimes as mining accidents. Only one person survived the assaults.

An appeal was lodged against the death sentences, but the court dismissed it, and the executions were carried out on April 12.

According to Liang Jun'an, a procurator involved in the case, most of the victims were poor migrant workers who spent significant time away from home, rarely returning so they could save on money. This minimal contact with their families would make it less likely for them to be reported as missing.

Meanwhile, the other victims were local residents, which made it easier for the killers to pretend to be their family members when making insurance claims, due to similar regional accents.