The bodies of three more Palestinians were evacuated from the tunnel that was destroyed in a blast on Sunday under the border line between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, raising the death toll to four, medical sources said on Monday.

Rescue crew are still searching for missing people in the tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah, ambulance and emergencies director Mu'awia Hassanein said.

"The paramedics and civil defense officers have found three more bodies and they are still looking for three others," Hassanein told Xinhua. The first fatality was evacuated yesterday immediately after the blast inside the tunnel which was caused by fuel leak.

Rescue workers and witnesses said on Sunday that a Palestinian was killed and another one injured while four went missing during the explosion.

Since Israel imposed a siege on Gaza in 2007, the Palestinians resorted to smuggling foods and a wide array of goods, including fuel and livestock, from Egypt via underground tunnels.

Tens of peoples, including children under the age of 16, who worked inside the tunnels, have been killed in accidents including suffocation, collapse or Egyptian detonations.

Local rights groups have called on Hamas, the Islamic movement that controls Gaza, to monitor the tunnels and prevent children employment there, as well as take more restrictions to reduce casualties.

(Xinhua News Agency July 27, 2009)