Three workers have died in a tunnel collapse deep inside a potash mine in north-east Spain.

The collapse occurred inside the Cabanasses de Suria mine just before 9am on Thursday at a depth of nearly 3,000 feet, local police and firefighters confirmed.

Efforts are ongoing to recover the bodies, they said.

The mine is located around 50 miles north west of Barcelona.

Two of the dead were masters students at Polytechnic University of Catalonia’s Manresa engineering school, the institution said in a statement.

A minute’s silence was held in their memory on Thursday afternoon.

One of the students was an intern at ICL Iberia, the Spanish subsidiary of Tel Aviv-based ICL Group, which owns the mine.

ICL Group did not immediately comment on the incident.

Two workers died in similar circumstances at the same mine a decade ago.

Catalan regional president Pere Aragones offered his condolences to the families affected, describing the collapse as a “tragic accident”.

The labour department of the regional government has announced an investigation into the accident and a judicial probe has also been opened.

Catalonia’s regional head of business, Roger Torrent, said the mine passed regular safety inspections.

“The checks were regular. The last one was three weeks ago,” Mr Torrent said.

Around 20,000 people work in Spain’s mining sector, according to Energy Ministry statistics, a figure that has halved in the past two decades.

Between 2016 and 2021, the last year for which statistics were available, an average of four workers have died annually in Spain’s mining sector.