Rescuers free trapped Australian miners

SYDNEY, May 8 (Reuters) Two Australian miners trapped a kilometre underground for 14 days were freed today after rescuers reached them through a final vertical tunnel.

The miners, Brant Webb, 37, and Todd Russell, 34, were trapped in a small wire cage on April 25 after a cave-in at the Beaconsfield Gold Mine on the southern island of Tasmania.

A third miner was killed in the cave-in.

''Both Brant and Todd are out of the tunnel and well,'' mine manager Matthew Gill told reporters.

Webb and Russell remain underground and are undergoing medical checks and hope to be above ground in about an hour.

Digging a 16-metre long horizontal rescue tunnel towards Webb and Russell was painstakingly slow as miners had to grind through rock five times harder than concrete.

Food and fresh water have been delivered to the men through a small plastic pipe along with clothes, a digital camera and two iPod players.

Before beginning the final vertical dig, rescuers broke through to the miners with probes late today, ensuring they were digging in the right position.

Over the past few days, Webb and Russell spread grout beneath their wire cage to stabilise the ground and minimise the chances of a rock fall when they were finally reached.

The miners are being kept updated on the rescue progress and have asked for a shower as soon as they are freed. ''They are thinking about coming home and so should we,'' Shorten said.

Mining is one of the world's most dangerous jobs. Worldwide 10,000 miners die every year. In Australia, 11 miners have been killed in accidents in the past year. The Minerals Council of Australia has recorded 229 deaths from 1990 to 2000.

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