Three killed after landslide collapses mine in Turkey's southeast

At least three people died and 13 others have been trapped in a landslide caused by heavy rains in a mining area in Turkey's southeastern Siirt Province on Thursday.

"Work began again at dawn to save 13 more workers," the governor's office said on Friday, adding that rescue services from across the region and rescue dogs were battling to save the trapped miners.

An AFP photographer at the scene said that dozens of family members of the trapped miners had surrounded the mine while desperately waiting for news about their loved-ones.

Smoke rose from the mine area as the relatives lit fires to keep warm on a sunny but freezing day in the mountainous region.

The mine in the Sirvan District of Siirt Province is owned by a private company, Anadolu Agency reported.

The incident comes more than two years after Turkey's worst modern industrial disaster took place in May 2014 at the Soma coal mine in the country's west. Over 300 miners were left dead following a fire at the mine.

Prosecutors have demanded life imprisonment for eight executives of the mine, in a trial which is still ongoing.

In another disaster 18 miners were killed in October 2014 when they were trapped by flooding in a coal mine in Karaman Province.