5 miners still missing, but 20 rescued

Managua - Rescuers in Nicaragua have brought 20 miners who had been trapped deep underground for nearly two days after a cave-in at an unlicensed gold mine to the surface, but five more were still missing.

The presidential spokesperson Rosario Murillo said rescue crews were still trying to locate the five.

Most younger than 30, they were "pretty tired, exhausted, dehydrated, muddy and dirty," an AFP photographer on the scene said.

They were immediately embraced by family members, who had stayed nearby since the accident, and then taken to the nearest hospital.

There had been 28 "guiriseros," or informal gold miners, working in the shaft when the mouth of the mine caved in because of a landslide triggered by heavy downpours early on Thursday morning.