ONE by one, the miners trapped for 69 days in a dungeon that could have been their tomb far beneath the Chilean desert climbed into a rescue capsule and made a smooth ascent to the surface yesterday.

Families and rescuers were celebrating today as trapped miners steadily emerged from their half-mile-deep dungeon under the Chilean desert.

Miners trapped for more than two months deep underground in northern Chile were greeted with hugs, cheers and tears today as they were pulled to the surface one by one by rescuers using a missile-like escape capsule.

To hugs, cheers and tears, rescuers today began pulling 33 men one by one to fresh air and freedom, 69 days after they were trapped in a collapsed Chilean mine almost half a mile underground.

The first of the Chilean miners trapped underground for 69 days were being winched to fresh air and freedom today amid cheers from their families and countrymen.