Five villagers in Guizhou province have died in an abandoned antimony ore mine after being poisoned by toxic gas, local authorities said Thursday.

The accident happened early Thursday in Dushan county in Bouyei-Miao autonomous prefecture of Qiannan, when three local villagers entered the mine for illegal mining, said Zhang Linfang, executive deputy head of the county.

After the miners inhaled toxic gas and passed out, a villager posted as a lookout went back to the village and found two other locals for an attempted rescue. However, the three would-be rescuers were also themselves poisoned and trapped after entering the mine.

After 10 hours of rescue efforts, a villager was rescued alive but the other five died of gas poisoning, Zhang said.

The survivor is being treated at a local hospital, she said.

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