Australian rescuers have reached two miners who have been trapped in a mine a kilometre underground for nine days.
The men, trapped after a cave-in in a gold mine in the small town of Beaconsfield on the southern island of Tasmania, were found on Sunday huddled in a small metal cage.
A third miner was killed when a small earth tremor dislodged tonnes of rock.
A 20-centimetre-diameter pilot hole has been made through to the surviving men but must now be widened to one metre. It seems unlikely the small rescue tunnel could be widened enough to free them before the weekend.
A special tunnelling machine, which grinds through rock and is much safer than blasting or drilling, was used to dig 16 metres through solid rock to reach the miners.
Mine manager Matthew Gill said that work to enlarge the hole was unlikely to start until late on Thursday because it would take most of the day to fit the larger blade to the drill.
Food and fresh water has been delivered to the men through a small plastic pipe, along with fresh clothes, a digital camera, magazines and an iPod player.