9 Miners Rescued After 4-Day Ordeal

Rescuers, clawing with shovels and their bare hands, broke through a wall of rock to reach nine miners entombed for four days below more than a mile of earth and rock. The miners emerged from the shaft on stretchers. They were in good condition but headed to a nearby hospital for examination, said mine spokeswoman Charmane Russell. A short crawl away from where the miners had awaited rescue deep in the mine, four co-workers lay dead from Monday’s rock fall at the African Rainbow Minerals gold mine in Orkney, 110 miles southwest of Johannesburg. Hopes were fading that two severely injured miners near the decomposing bodies were still alive. Rescuers were expected to work through the night to reach them, Russell said.