As they waited to be rescued, two miners survived on instant coffee powder and water pouring from the ceiling of a collapsed shaft.

Two South Korean miners who were buried underground for nine days and rescued say they survived on instant coffee and water that fell from the collapsed shaft’s ceiling.

Two men, aged 62 and 56, were rescued from a zinc mine in the town of Bonghwa on Friday night.

They had been trapped there since 26 October, when a mass of earth covered the entrance to the shaft 190 meters (620 feet) below the surface.

Bang Jong-Hyo, the physician who treated the miners in the hospital, reported that they were in relatively decent health despite their first claims of suffering from hypothermia and muscle problems.

He said that their release was anticipated within days.

While trapped underground, the two miners shared 30 instant coffee sticks, drank water running through the hole, and built a fire to live.

Park Geun-Hyung, the son of one of the rescued miners, Park Jeong-ha, stated, “I have many things to tell my father, so I’ve been keeping a journal for the past 10 days.”

“Now I want to spend some time with my father so I can tell him what I want to say and hear from him what I want to hear.”

President Yoon Suk Yeol described their rescue as miraculous and heartwarming.

In letters written to the miners, Mr. Yoon was cited as stating that they have provided “fresh hope to the Republic of South Korea, which has been bereaved,” his office stated on Sunday, an apparent reference to a catastrophic Halloween crowd surge in Seoul last weekend that killed 156 people.