Rescuers attempting to free four miners trapped in a flooded pit have located a body.
Emergency services said they had not given up hope of finding the other three men alive in the Gleision Colliery near Cilybebyll in the Swansea Valley.
But they have been unable to recover and identify the body they have discovered.
Superintendent Phil Davies told reporters at the scene: “A miner has been found. He is deceased. We are not in a current position to recover him from the mine and therefore we don’t know the identity of that person.
“This is a dynamic, ongoing search and rescue operation and all emergency services are working hard to get all the miners out of there as soon as possible.”
Chris Margetts, from South Wales Fire and Rescue Service, said the dead miner was found on the “exit side of the body of water” and that it was “quite possible the team has been split”.
Mr Davies said: “The men’s families have been informed of the death of one of the miners and obviously our sympathy is with them all in what is a very difficult time.”
Divers trying to find the men were forced to abandon their attempt during the night.
It had been hoped that the miners, trapped 295ft (90m) underground, were able to find an air pocket after the pit flooded when a retaining wall holding back a body of water underground failed.
The miners have been named as Phillip Hill, 45, from Neath, Charles Bresnan, 62, David Powell, 50, and Garry Jenkins, 39, all from the Swansea Valley.
A fifth miner was critically ill in hospital after escaping as the flood water engulfed the drift mine yesterday.
Two other men who were with him escaped largely unharmed and were helping the rescue operation.
The alarm was raised at the pit at around 9.20am yesterday.
Mr Margetts said: “The search and rescue operation continues.
“Obviously we’ve had the disappointing news that we’ve discovered one of the miners.
“The miner that we found was in a different section of the mine, so he was basically on the exit side of the body of water.
“So therefore, the search and rescue mission continues because there are still air pockets on the other side of the body of water, and there’s a blockage down there, that are yet to be searched.”
The spokesman said it was possible the team split during the incident, and the miner they found would have been trying to reach the same exit as two others who were able to escape.
“Unfortunately he hasn’t made it,” he said.
“So the remaining miners, we still believe, are located the other side of the blockage in the lower shaft and we’re still trying to gain access to that shaft.
“It’s a very delicate, sensitive operation.
“We’ve got to consider all the options. We do not want to make the situation and the environment any worse.
“We need to make sure that what we do is structurally safe.” He said the teams were pumping up water, excavating the blockages and shoring up the tunnels.
“It is slow and it is steady, but as we’re aware with previous incidents, these incidents take time,” he said. “We need to do it properly.”
He explained the water levels are receding and rescuers are continuing to pump water away to make the operation easier.
“Everyone is working very hard, we just need a little bit of luck,” he added.