US: A miner pulled to safety after three days trapped in a cramped shaft 240 feet underground wept as he told of his relief at being reunited with his family.
Blaine Mayhugh was one of nine men said to be in "remarkably good health" following the dramatic rescue from the Quecreek mine in Pennsylvania.
The 29-year-old miner said one thought ran through his mind as he finally emerged after 77 hours stuck in the 4 ft high shaft: "Please just get me up out of here. God and my wife and my kids, they were the only things that got me through."
The father of two said when he went to work on Wednesday it had been the first time he had forgotten to kiss his wife goodbye. "It had to be that day," he told reporters at an emotional news conference.
Mr Mayhugh, whose father-in- law Thomas Foy was trapped with him, added the group's survival was a team effort. "Maybe one guy got down and then the rest pulled together, and then that guy would get back up. Then someone else would get a little weaker and we'd do it again."
Until their rescue the group had been clueless about what was happening above ground,he said.
"We thought maybe they couldn't find us, maybe their equipment broke down. We had no idea what was going on. I had no idea how many people were involved." The men were then winched one by one to the surface in a metal cage where they were greeted by cheers from the crowd of workers who had toiled round the clock to bring them to safety.
The final miner, Mark Popernack (41) was wet, exhausted and had his face blackened with coal dust, but managed to give his rescuers a thumbs-up as he emerged.
They were then taken for an emotional reunion with family members at a local hospital.
"There were tears of joy flowing everywhere at the time, both from the miners and the family," said trauma surgeon Dr Russell Dumire of Memorial Medical Centre in Johnstown.
Competition between the two drilling teams seemed to spur them both forward, and it was 10.16 p.m. on Saturday when the original shaft reached the miners.
"The best-case scenario," Mr David Hess, the state's secretary of environmental, had said, "is that when we pull the drill-bit out, we hear hollering."
The men spent their 77-hour ordeal immersed in 3 to 4 feet of water, struggling to keep warm. "When one would get cold the other eight would huddle around the person and warm that person, and when another person got cold the favour was returned," Dr Dumire said.
Medics had prepared to treat them for symptoms of hypothermia or the bends, caused by sudden changes in pressure. Decompression chambers, ambulances and 18 helicopters were at the scene 55 miles from Pittsburgh.
"If you were to see any of these guys on the street right now," Dr Dumire said, "you would not know they were trapped in a cavern full of water for three days.They're all quite calm, cool and collected and they all want to get on with things".
Before Saturday night, rescue-workers last heard from the miners at noon on Thursday, when they tapped on an air pipe. Noise caused by the rescue equipment drowned out the later attempts at communication from the men. - (PA, Guardian Service)