Rescue workers have laboured for a fifth day to reach 13 people trapped deep underground in a collapsed gold mine in Russia’s far east, reports said.

No contact has been made with the miners trapped in the Amur region, about 3,000 miles east of Moscow.

At least 13 miners are trapped, regional officials said on Tuesday.

The state news agency RIA-Novosti cited emergency officials as saying that an operation to pump water out of the mine has been completed.

The miners were trapped at a depth of about 400ft when part of the mine collapsed on Monday. The cause of the accident has not been announced.