Two miners who spent nine days trapped in a collapsed South Korean zinc mine have been rescued.
The men, aged 62 and 56, are believed to have kept warm by lighting a fire and building a tent out of plastic.
And it is learned that they are in a stable condition.
The two miners were reportedly trapped nearly 200 meters underground after part of the zinc mine they were working in collapsed on October 26 in Bonghwa, in the east of the country.
They were finally rescued on the night of November 4 – more than nine days after their ordeal began.
Both were able to get out of the mine and were taken to a local hospital. Their doctor said they should make a full recovery.
President Yoon Suk-yeol called their rescue “truly a miracle.”
“Thank you and thank you again for returning safely from the crossroads of life and death,” he wrote on Facebook.
Authorities said the miners survived by drinking water that fell from the ceiling and using coffee grounds as food.
The rescue operation began on Thursday when emergency workers drilled a hole and inserted a small camera to try to find the miners.
They were eventually discovered sitting side by side for warmth in a large room where several mine shafts meet.
