KUNMING, May 11 -- Three miners were killed and two others remain trapped after the roof of a coal mine shaft in southwest China's Yunnan Province collapsed on Monday noon, said local authorities.

Thirty-one miners were working underground in the Dahai coal mine in Bole township, Qujing city, when the shaft collapsed. Twenty-six managed to escape, among whom four sustained slight injuries and were sent to a local hospital, according to the emergency office of the provincial government.

As of 5 p.m., rescuers had recovered three bodies. The search for the remaining two continues.

Production capacity at the mine is 90,000 tonnes a year.