An operation has begun to rescue about 3,000 South African gold miners trapped a mile underground when a falling pipe damaged their lift.
The mine company began rescuing workers through a smaller shaft and estimated it would take 10 hours to get them all out.
About 350 miners had been evacuated so far. There were no injuries and there was no immediate danger to any of the workers in Harmony Gold's Elandsrand Mine, near Johannesburg, a company spokesman said.
Peter Bailey, health and safety chairman for the National Mineworkers Union, said the first men to reach the surface were "doing well".
The miners were trapped at a level slightly more than a mile underground when a hydraulic pressure pipe blew out.
Harmony Chief Operating Officer Alwin Pretorius said the pipe fell down the shaft and probably caused extensive damage to its steel work and electrical cables. Miners had to evacuated with a smaller cage in another shaft.
Sethiri Thibile, one of the first miners rescued, clutched a beef sandwich and a bottle of water he was given when he reached the surface.
"I was hungry, though we were all hungry," said Thibile, 32, an engineering assistant who had been underground since 5am on Wednesday. He said there was no food or water in the mine.
Harmony's acting chief executive Graham Briggs said miners would be brought to the surface at intervals of every 25 to 30 minutes.
"It's going to take some time because we are doing it carefully," he said. "Nobody is injured, nobody is hurt, nothing like that at all."
