RESCUERS said yesterday there is little hope of finding alive 11 miners trapped underground after a gas explosion in a central Chinese coal mine that killed 26 of their comrades.

Chilean president Sebastian Pinera arrived in the UK tonight saying Chile had given a great example to the world of “commitment, courage, faith, hope and unity”.

The Chilean miners began leaving hospital today and got a taste of their new lives outside the doors – a swarm of reporters, TV producers, publicity agents and even football teams desperate for a piece of their story.

CHILE’S 33 rescued miners posed with the president and were poked by doctors yesterday, itching to reunite with families and sleep in their own beds for the first time since a cave-in nearly killed them on August 5.

AMID the celebrations over the Chilean miners’ rescue, several key questions remain unanswered.

Chile's 33 rescued miners were reported in good health today as they met the country's president who pledged tougher safety laws.

The last of the Chilean miners, the foreman who held them together when they were feared lost, was raised from the depths of the earth today in a joyous ending to a 69-day ordeal that riveted the world

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.

Chile's president said his government is "very close" to pulling 33 trapped miners to safety and he hopes to be there in person to see the rescue before leaving on a trip to Europe.

CHILEAN officials broke the news to a desperate group of trapped miners that they could be stuck in their collapsed mine for months before being rescued.

THEIR self-imposed rations were meagre: Two spoonfuls of tuna, a sip of milk, a bite of cracker and a morsel of peach every second day.

ALL 33 Chilean miners trapped deep underground for 17 days were found alive yesterday, Chile’s president confirmed.

The Roman Catholic Church has angered rights activists and some conservatives by petitioning Chile's government for prisoner pardons that would include people responsible for crimes against humanity.

AN AFTERSHOCK measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale and four other tremors rocked disaster-hit Chile yesterday, triggering a tsunami alert just minutes before billionaire Sebastian Pinera was sworn in as the new president.

Billionaire Sebastian Pinera won Chile's presidential vote in the country's first democratic election of a right-wing ruler in 52 years.

CHILE’S presidential election could come down to a nerve-racking vote-by-vote count after a late surge by former President Eduardo Frei made his race against billionaire Sebastian Pinera too close to predict.

Chile has inaugurated a 'Museum of Memory' to make sure the tens of thousands of people who were imprisoned, killed or disappeared during General Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship are not forgotten.

Right-wing billionaire Sebastian Pinera set himself up for an election run-off against a veteran of the coalition that has ruled Chile for two decades of democracy.

Socialist Michelle Bachelet placed first in Chilean presidential elections yesterday but will face a runoff against a right-wing businessman who is one of Chile’s richest men.