"We are working to build a ramp to keep on removing the rubble from the collapse, " regional mining secretary Mauricio Pino Sid said on Twitter.

BBC: Chile slow search for miner trapped 100m underground

Mr Twigg said many of the worst affected areas had suffered long term decline with the collapse of manufacturing and mining and a decline in tourism.

BBC: Clacton

Flooding and a pit wall collapse put an end to mining in the mid-1980s.

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