Five miners trapped deep in a South African diamond mine for three days are presumed dead, the mines minister said Friday, as rescuers continued drilling to reach them.

They were trapped by a mudslide early Tuesday around 890 metres (3,000 feet) underground at the mine at Kimberley, 500 kilometres (310 miles) southeast of Johannesburg.

"If you are away from the 17th to today in a mud rush, as a miner, I can tell you that I would easily do what I call presumption of death and assume that they are dead," Mines Minister Gwede Mantashe told local media.

"We hope that we can find those bodies rather than keeping the hope that they are alive," said Mantashe on a visit to the Ekapa mine.

Non-stop rescue effort

The Ekapa mine management said it had six teams on a non-stop rescue effort focused on pumping out water so that mud and rock could be removed to access the last known location of the miners.

Ekapa is the largest privately owned diamond mining company in the world, according to its website.

South Africa is a global mining heavyweight, in particular of coal, platinum, gold and diamonds.

The sector employed roughly 470,000 people in 2022, according to the Minerals Council of South Africa.

Forty-one miners were killed at work last year, which was a record low, the council has said.