Twenty-seven Australian miners trapped underground when a shaft collapsed Monday raised the alarm by calling the emergency services hot line, then chatted about their families to keep their spirits up as they waited to be rescued. The men were rescued unharmed from the gold mine at Mount Clear in southern Victoria state after spending more than four hours trapped several hundred meters (yards) beneath the surface. Shift manager Les Clayton said he discovered the blocked shaft when he went to investigate a power cut, then moved his workers into a refuge chamber before calling «000» _ Australia's version of «911» _ on his mobile phone and, to his surprise, getting through. «I believe the mobile phone reception was quite bad, (but) the call was able to be received,» police Senior Constable Leigh Wadeson said. A rescue operation was quickly launched, and all 27 men were winched to safety through an air shaft. «There's been no injuries, everybody is safe. They've been reunited with their families,» said Joe Dowling, a spokesman for Lihir Gold, the company that owns the mine.
