(2nd LD) 2 trapped miners miraculously walk out alive after 9 days

All News 00:20 November 05, 2022

(ATTN: UPDATES with more info in last para, photos)

BONGHWA, South Korea, Nov. 4 (Yonhap) -- Two miners trapped for more than nine days in a collapsed zinc mine in southeastern South Korea walked out alive Friday, authorities said, a miraculous ending to rescue efforts that once looked bleak.

The pair had been stuck in a vertical shaft about 190 meters underground at a zinc mine in the county of Bonghwa, 244 kilometers southeast of Seoul, since the mine collapsed on Oct. 26.

This photo provided by fire authorities shows a miner being carried into a hospital on Nov. 4, 2022 after being rescued from a collapsed mine nine days after being trapped. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

Rescue workers search for two trapped miners through an endoscope at a zinc mine in Bonghwa, 244 kilometers southeast of Seoul, on Nov. 3, 2022. (Yonhap)

Rescue authorities said the two, both surnamed Park and aged 62 and 56, came out at 11:03 p.m. after 221 hours underground. They are in stable health condition and have been sent to a hospital.

Rescue workers began a search for the two on Thursday by drilling a hole and inserting an endoscope in an effort to reach the point where the two men were trapped, 190 meters underground.

"My father walked out of the tunnel on his own two feet in good health. It's unbelievable," Park Geun-hyung, a son of the 62-year-old miner said.

Rescuers said the miners were believed to have pitched a tent with plastic and made a fire inside a tunnel to fend off cold.

President Yoon Suk-yeol hailed their return.

"This is truly miraculous," Yoon said in a Facebook post. "I am thankful and thankful again to them. My heart is deeply touched."

Yoon also praised the rescue workers.