SEOUL: Two South Korean miners who were trapped for more than nine days in a collapsed zinc mine have walked out alive, in a miraculous end to a difficult rescue operation.
The two men were trapped in a vertical shaft about 190 metres underground after the mine collapsed on October 26 in Bonghwa, eastern South Korea.
Dramatic local TV footage showed them emerging from the mine on Friday, assisted by rescue workers.
The survivors, aged 62 and 56, were in stable condition, authorities said.
To keep warm, the miners are believed to have built a fire and a tent out of plastic inside a tunnel, they added.