Prague - Two rescue workers died Thursday in a coal mine in the Czech Republic's north-east, a mining group said.

The workers, aged 34 and 46, were found unconscious in the mine's disused tunnel. Efforts to resuscitate them failed, a spokesman for the OKD coal mining company said.

The cause of death was not immediately known and was under investigation by an expert commission, he said.

The deaths occurred in the mine Darkov, one of the OKD's four active mines, and had no effect on production, the spokesman said.

OKD's Dutch-registered parent company New World Resources, which is controlled by former Czech financier Zdenek Bakala, recently listed its shares in London, Warsaw and Prague. (dpa)