Honduras enters third day of search for 8 trapped miners; 3 others known alive

Rescue workers gather outside a gold mine where miners are trapped after a landslide in San Juan Arriba, Choluteca in southern Honduras, early Thursday, July 3, 2014. The entrance to the artisanal mine has a vertical entrance, is located on a steep slope, and operated by local residents. (AP Photo/Fernando Antonio) (The Associated Press)

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Rescue workers and volunteers stay at a gold mine where 11 miners are trapped inside after a landslide in San Juan Arriba, Choluteca in southern Honduras, Thursday, July 3, 2014. More than 300 Red Cross volunteers, firefighters and people who live near the mine in the town of El Corpus were digging by hand in an effort to reach the miners. (AP Photo/Fernando Antonio) (The Associated Press)

Relatives of 11 miners trapped inside a gold mine after a landslide, cry while the rescue operation continues in San Juan Arriba, Choluteca in southern Honduras, Thursday, July 3, 2014. More than 300 Red Cross volunteers, firefighters and people who live near the mine in the town of El Corpus were digging by hand in an effort to reach the miners. (AP Photo/Fernando Antonio) (The Associated Press)

MEXICO CITY – Emergency personnel and miners are supplying water and food to three trapped miners and are looking for eight others who disappeared when a tunnel collapsed at a small, wildcat gold mine in southern Honduras.

The head of the local fire department says rescue workers have contacted three of the trapped miners by shouting, and have gotten responses.

Marco Tulio Artica said Friday that rescuers have passed food and water to the three men through small gaps drilled through the rock slide.

He said the work is slow and hard. Workers have to use picks, shovels, small pneumatic drills instead of heavy machinery because of the risk of further collapses.

More than 100 police, firefighters, rescue workers and miners are working during the third day of rescue efforts following Wednesday's cave-in.