Moscow ? A fire broke out Thursday in a gold and metals mine in Siberia, leaving more than 30 miners underground fighting the blaze or struggling to escape through long underground tunnels, officials said.

The blaze broke out shortly after noon at a depth between 280 and 430 feet in the Darasun mine in the Chita region, about 3,000 miles east of Moscow, said Emergency Situations Ministry spokeswoman Yulia Stadnikova.

Of the 64 miners working in the shaft at the time of the blaze, 31 were evacuated, said Gennady Savelyev, a spokesman for the ministry’s regional branch.

Thirty-three were still underground – 13 working to extinguish the blaze and 20 who were being evacuated along a 3-mile tunnel, he said.

Savelyev said the miners’ fate remained unknown as dawn approached today.