One person, 43-year-old Vassil Blagoev, died and another unnamed colleague of him was still being searched.

Both men had been buried beneath a collapsing section of the Oranovo mine, in the Simitli mining complex in South-Western Bulgaria, Focus news agency reported on October 24.

Blagoev was brought out alive from underneath the tons of grounds mass that buried him in the shaft but died while being transported to the emergency care centre in the nearby city of Blagoevgrad, Focus said.

Rescue teams from the larger mining site of Bobov Dol were sent to the place of the accident to assist the police and paramedics that were already present there, in finding the second victim, whose faith remained unknown.