Mines inspector Bob Stevenson says the accident appears to have happened with no warning

Three men were repairing a steel roof 800 metres along a shaft 35 metres below the surface when the ceiling collapsed on top of them.

The accident happened at the small family-owned Moorside Colliery in Eckington at 6.45am on Thursday.

Rescuers took two hours to dig the men out

The mines rescue service took two hours to dig out the men.

Two of the miners were certified dead at the scene.

They were were later named by Derbyshire police as Alan Hill, 50, of Poolsbrook, Staveley, and David Martin, 48, of Woodthorpe, Staveley.

The third man sustained apparently minor injuries.

Officials from the Health and Safety Executive are carrying out an investigation. One of the inspectors, Bob Stevenson said the mine opened in 1993 and has previously had a good safety record. He said these were the first fatalities.

Mr Stevenson says the accident has shocked the workforce. "It has 22 employees from local villages. I would expect it may be several days, maybe weeks, before they start working again," he said.

He said the third miner involved in the accident was too shocked to talk to inspectors. The Health and Safety Executive is trying to gather information from witnesses and say the investigations could take two days.