BOISE - The operator of a northern Idaho silver mine says workers have recovered the body of a miner who was trapped when a tunnel collapsed nine days ago.

Hecla Mining Co. says the body of 53-year-old Larry Marek was discovered Sunday afternoon.

Marek and his brother, Mike, had just finished watering down blasted-out rock and ore in the mine when the ceiling collapsed in a 6,150-foot (1,875-meter) deep tunnel April 15. Mike Marek escaped unharmed.

Crews labored around the clock to dig through the collapsed debris and build a second intersecting tunnel to reach Marek, but by Sunday officials had determined he could not have survived.

No cause has been established for the cave-in.