Rescue teams in Poland have saved 19 miners who were trapped underground for 8 hours. The men were stranded when an earthquake caused a tunnel to collapse at a mine around 250 miles south west of the capital Warsaw.
They have all reached the surface and are undergoing medical checks. 4 people had earlier managed to walk out on their own.
The miners were trapped 600 metres below ground at the Rudna mine. An operation was launched to get to them via another mine.
"Our mines are linked together. Although there is also a rubble there ... it is however more stable. It is safer, machines can operate there and it gives hope" KGHM spokesman Dariusz Wyborski said.
The company lost contact with the miners for several hours because the tremor cut communication lines. The mine has been in operation since 1974.
Poland has a large numbers of mines which are mostly in the heavily industrialised Silesia region. In 2006 a gas explosion at a coal mine in the region killed 23 miners.
