(BSS/AFP) - Spanish rescuers on Saturday recovered the body of a second worker from a coal mine accident in Asturias, the latest such tragedy to strike the historic northern mining region.

Asturias emergency services said in a statement that they were alerted on Friday afternoon to "a ground collapse" on level two of the mine in Vega de Rengos.

They then posted on X that one of the bodies had been recovered before confirming in a second statement that a second body was retrieved shortly after midnight on Saturday.

"The material from the cave-in hampered the work to rescue both victims," the statement said, modifying earlier information that three miners were involved in total.

"Today is a sad day for Asturias and for the whole country," Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez wrote on X, expressing "solidarity with the mining family", relatives and friends of the victims.

According to Asturias regional government data, mining company TYC Narcea Special Research extracts anthracite at the site.

The mayor of the nearby town of Cangas del Narcea, Jose Luis Fontaniella, suggested it was "an unfortunate accident", telling local radio Cope Asturias that inspectors had recently checked the mine and "everything was in order".

In March, a blast at another Asturias coal mine killed five people and seriously injured four others, Spain`s deadliest mining accident in decades.

Mining has for centuries been a major industry in Asturias, a densely forested mountainous region.