MANILA, Oct. 27 (Xinhuanet) -- At least 18 people were feared dead and 50 others were trapped under rubble in a gold mine blast in Compostela Valley in southern Philippines caved in Wednesday evening, authorities said Thursday.

    Initial reports reaching the Compostela Valley regional police said an explosion, possibly that of dynamites, was heard at the gold mine site in Monkayo town before the tunnel collapsed. But investigators could not immediately determine the cause of the blast.

    Local officials said five bodies have been recovered from the tunnel and help from a regional disaster coordinating council is not expected to arrive until Friday.

    The gold mine was operated by the family of the late Monkayo town mayor Joel Brillantes, who was killed in 2003 amid incessant violence in a gold rush which has killed thousands of people since the 1980s.

    The government has occasionally stopped mining firms from operating there due to violence and environmental destruction. Enditem