Rescue workers have freed 20 miners who were trapped in a gold mine after a landslide in northern Nicaragua.
Twenty-nine workers were initially caught under ground in the El Comal mine near the town of Bonanza but two managed to get out on the same day.
Others waited more than 30 hours to be freed.
Rescued miner Roger Emilio Darce said: “We thought we would remain inside but we knew that there had to be another way out. We’ve struggled all night till this morning to clean everything and be able to go out from there. Because the only option was to go out.”
Hundreds of relatives and fellow miners had gathered outside the tunnel leading into the mine to pray for their safe rescue.
The search now continues for another seven men.
Norma Elena Torres is the relative of one rescued miner but still has more family in the mine.
“I feel happy but I still have two relatives inside,“ she said. “I hope to God the all-powerful that they come out alive. I still don’t have my brother Santos Herrera.”
The mine was officially closed four years ago after being deemed unsafe. However the Colombian company which owns it, Mineros, has continued to pay local freelance miners for any minerals they find there.
Two miners were killed two months ago in another landslide.
