File Photo: Agencies.

QUITO, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- An illegal coal mine collapsed in a landslide in north-western Ecuador, killing at least three people, the country's disaster relief agency said Thursday.

Three people were rescued, and another two are still missing, said the National Risk and Emergency Management Service.

The collapse happened at around 3 p.m. local time (2000 GMT) on Wednesday in the Esmeraldas province near the border with Colombia.

Local media reported that the accident resulted from excavations in an illegal mine that caused a landslide.

"I have ordered risk and emergency agencies to take all necessary actions to safeguard people's lives," Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno tweeted.