ZENICA, Bosnia-Herzegovina: One by one, rescue workers pulled 29 miners out of a trouble-plagued coal mine Friday after it had collapsed a day earlier in central Bosnia.
Officials halted rescue efforts, believing that five men who remained deep underground were dead.
Tired, their faces smeared with coal dust, the men came out of the Zenica mine one by one on Friday, after spending the night more than 500 meters (1,600 feet) below the ground.
Anxious family members cried with happiness as they embraced their loved ones. Ambulances were parked outside the mine entrance to take the miners for a medical checkup.
The union leader at the Zenica coal mine, Mehmed Oruc, said two tunnels in the mine collapsed Thursday evening following a gas explosion triggered by a minor earthquake that had hit the area near the town of Zenica.
He said 22 other miners managed to leave the pit after the tunnels collapsed, although two were injured.
Bosnian mine accident: 29 rescued, five miners buried
Bosnian mine accident: 29 rescued, five miners buried
