BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Rescuers were searching for at least 15 people missing after an illegal gold mine collapsed in southwest Colombia. Authorities said three dead bodies had been recovered.

Cauca province Gov. Temistocles Ortega said the collapse occurred shortly before midnight Wednesday in a rural area near Santander de Quilichao, about 190 miles (315 kilometers) southwest of Bogota, the capital. He said illegal miners use machinery to open huge holes to extract gold, and one of the walls of a hole fell in.