Nine workers trapped inside a mine in southern Peru are receiving oxygen and liquids through a giant hose while a rescue team tries to get them out, officials say.

The men have been stuck about 200 metres (650ft) below ground since the "wildcat" gold and copper mine partially collapsed on Thursday.

"We have communicated with them and they are in good health, thankfully," a police officer, Jose Saavedra, told local radio. A regional health official, however, said the miners were suffering from dehydration and feelings of desperation.

Saavedra said the men were trapped in a horizontal mining shaft behind about six metres of debris that collapsed after they set off an explosion to dislodge copper ore.

The miners were working without authorisation in a mine that reportedly shut down commercial operations in the early 1980s in Cabeza de Negro, about 175 miles south of Lima.

Small illegal mines are common in Peru, generating as much as £1.25bn a year in income, according to private estimates.

Peru's mining sector accounts for 60% of the country's total exports.