Searchers at a mine 350 miles north of Montreal said Tuesday they had found the third and final body of workers trapped by a flood last week.

Pierre Turgeon, a spokesman from Quebec's Workplace Health and Safety Board, told reporters in Desmaraisville an investigation would begin immediately at the gold mine where the three men, age 31, 36 and 44 died, the Canwest News Service reported.

The men were 1,800 feet below the surface and were last heard from as they descended from the sixth level to the 12th, the report said.

Reports said massive amounts of water flooded the lowest levels of the mine, which was closed in 1993 but reopened as gold prices escalated.

The surface operator of the elevator said the cage came back empty Friday and attempts to contact the men went unanswered.

Turgeon said the board inquiry could take as long as six months to determine what went wrong, Canwest said.