Kabul: An Afghan official says at least five coal miners have been killed in a tunnel collapse.

Mohammad Ali Hassani, the district chief in Dar-i-Suf, in the northern Samangan province, said another four miners were rescued when the 800-meter (yard) tunnel collapsed today. He says another miner is missing.

He said the mine, like many in rural Afghanistan, was dug with little regard for safety, and that those working in it were poor labourers with no other way to make a living.