Honduras losing hope of survivors among 8 trapped in gold mine

Nehemias Chavarria is carried by rescue workers from a gold mine after a landslide in San Juan Arriba, Choluteca in southern Honduras, Friday July 4, 2014. Three miners were rescued Friday after spending more than two days trapped following a collapse at a small, wildcat gold mine. Eight others remain missing. (AP Photo/Fernando Antonio) (The Associated Press)

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Rescue workers carry a miner who was trapped in a gold mine after a collapse in San Juan Arriba, Choluteca in southern Honduras, Friday, July 4, 2014. Three miners were rescued Friday after spending more than two days trapped following a collapse at a small, wildcat gold mine. Eight others remain missing. (AP Photo/Fernando Antonio) (The Associated Press)

A soldier stands guard at the entrance of a collapsed gold mine where miners are trapped in San Juan Arriba, Choluteca in southern Honduras, Friday, July 4, 2014. Three miners were rescued Friday after spending more than two days trapped following a collapse at a small, wildcat gold mine. Eight others remain missing. (AP Photo/Fernando Antonio) (The Associated Press)

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – Honduran officials say they are losing hope that any of eight still-trapped workers survived the collapse of small gold mine in the southern part of the country.

National emergency commission chief Moises Alvarado says that three days after the cave-in, "there is a strong, bad odor of death within the mine."

He told a news conference on Saturday that he's hoping for a miracle. But said "only a miracle would let us rescue them alive."

Eleven miners managed to escape immediately after Wednesday's collapse and three others were rescued on Friday.