Thousands of miners were being painstakingly brought to the surface after spending hours trapped more than two kilometres underground at a gold mine in South Africa.
No major injuries were reported after the accident at Elandsrand mine, southwest of Johannesburg, yesterday when some 3,200 miners first became stuck underground after a lift cable apparently snapped at 10:00 am (1330 IST).
Unions warned the incident should serve as a wake-up call to the industry, saying it had highlighted shortcomings in safety.
The exhausted but relieved miners meanwhile recounted how they had kept up their spirits by singing in the mine shaft.
The mine's acting chief executive Graham Briggs told reporters that 825 of the miners had been rescued in batches of 75 by 7:00 am, leaving the prospect that the rescue mission would not be finished until the afternoon.
As they emerged onto solid ground from a makeshift lift, the miners were handed sandwiches, greeted by relatives and then whisked away for medical examinations but they mostly appeared in good spirits.
"When the light went off, we didn't know what happened. At the beginning we were not so scared but as time went we didn't know how long it would take," said father-of-two David Mokqosi who has been working at Elandsrand since 1987.
"It's the first time something has happened like that. This should be a lesson to the management. We must have an escape route."
Paramedics were sent down to check on the other miners, who were trapped at level 73 of the mine, some 2,200 metres (7,260 feet) below the surface. - DDNEWS
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