JAKARTA, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Three bodies of miners have been retrieved and three others are still missing as a tin mining site collapsed in Bangka Belitung Islands province in the western part of Indonesia, a senior official of a disaster agency said on Sunday.
The accident took place on Saturday afternoon when the six miners were mining in an underground of the tin mining site which is about 12 meters deep in Sarang Ikan area situated in Bangka Tengah district, said Sabri, a senior official of the agency in the district.
"Suddenly, the mining fell down and buried the six miners. Three of them have been recovered dead from the underground site, but the rest of the miners went missing. The search for them continued today (Sunday)," he told Xinhua via phone.
"The accident occurred after heavy rains. The miners did not realize that the structure of the mining site is weak as it contains sands. It is easy to collapse," Sabri added.
Personnel from the local disaster agency, the local search and rescue office, policemen and volunteers were involved in the search mission, according to him.
Indonesia is one of the world's top tin producers. Enditem
