TWO goldminers trapped underground and feared dead for five days were found alive last night as a Tasmanian town's grim vigil ended in an astounding story of survival and celebration. "They're alive, they're alive, they're alive," cried Todd Russell's mother, Kaye, as she ran to the Uniting Church in Beaconsfield, where townspeople were praying for Mr Russell, 34, and Brant Webb, 37.
Mr Russell's father was able to speak to his son as rescuers inched closer to freeing them. The national secretary of the Australian Workers Union, Bill Shorten, said: "The father has spoken to the son by radio phone. They are wedged under a rock. They have spoken to a doctor - they are in pretty good health."
A friend of Mr Russell's, Robert Gilley, said it was "bloody thrilling . . . we've heard on the grapevine that they've said that they are cold, they are thirsty and bloody hungry so get us out".
Paul Howes, deputy national president of the Australian Workers Union, said the men were in "in good spirits, and obviously they're in good spirits because of their sheer will and determination that had led them to survive so far".
"The first thing they wanted to find out was the footy scores, and how long till they could get out. By all reports they're in good health, but they must be scared and they must be feeling a lot of pain at the moment, but hopefully we will get there shortly."
The delicate final stages of a rescue mission were continuing early this morning to free the men from what most had feared would be their tomb almost a kilometre underground.
Mine manager Matthew Gill said it would be at least midday (AEST) today before rescue crews reached the spot where the men were last seen.
But rescuers were hopeful of getting them out alive, he said.
Mr Gill said the final few metres of the 36-metre tunnel would be even more painstaking, with crews unable to blast near the trapped men.
"It's slow and painstaking work," he said. "It is difficult to predict when we will reach where we believe the men are. We are going as fast as we can safely."
The two miners had been trapped since last Tuesday night, when a seismic event triggered rock falls, killing their workmate Larry Knight, 44, whose body was retrieved on Thursday.
Mr Webb's mother-in-law, Julie Kelly, said it appeared the two men had been protected from the rock fall by a cherry picker cage.
"That was the 1 per cent hope, they may have got in an area away from the rocks, but it was such a small hope."
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