Hopes are fading for three miners who went missing late Friday near Desmaraisville, Que., some 250 kilometres northeast of Quebec City in the province's Abitibi-Temiscamingue region.
The three men -- 36-year-old Bruno Goulet, 44-year-old Dominico Bollini and 31-year-old Marc Guay -- went down into the Bachelor Lake Gold Mine around 11:30 p.m.
They were working to restore the abandoned mine, which is owned by Metanor Resources.
Goulet and Bollini are both Metanor employees, while Guay is employed by mining contracting company Montali.
When the men descended to the 11th floor of the shaft, their cage was flooded.
The operator tried to communicate with the men once he realized there was flooding, but there was no response.
When he brought the cage back up, it was empty and the emergency exit was open.
Pierre Bernaquez, the superintendent of human resources, said he couldn't explain why the flooding didn't trigger the mine's alarm system.
He said the process of pumping out the bottom floors of the mine to facilitate the search for the men could take up to 20 hours, and that the chances of finding them alive are slim.
Quebec's workplace safety board and the Surete du Quebec were investigating the incident late Saturday night and early Sunday morning.
With files from The Canadian Press
