Rebelo de Sousa did not make any comments to the media when he arrived at 1.33pm local time.

According to the commander of rescue operations for Évora district, José Ribeiro, the two victims killed were employees of the company that mines marble at the quarry.

The authorities were on this (Tuesday) morning assessing the conditions for attempting to reach the victims of the disaster which took place on Monday afternoon.

Civil protection officials announced after the accident that up to five people were thought to have fallen into the quarry when a road running alongside it collapsed as the result of the landslide.

The alarm was raised at 3.45pm and by 5pm emergency services had 28 staff and 10 vehicles on the spot, as well as a helicopter from ambulance service INEM.

The quarry is located next to highway EN255, which is between Borba and Vila Viçosa, in the Alentejo region.