Esterhazy, Sask. — All 72 trapped Saskatchewan miners were brought safely to the surface early Monday after spending more than 30 hours cut off underground by fire and smoke.

A spokesman for Mosaic, the company that runs the K2 mine near Esterhazy in southeastern Saskatchewan, said that the remaining five had farthest to go to reach the escape route. They reached the surface shortly before 10 a.m. EST

The news was expected to bring huge relief to families and friends of the miners who had been waiting more than a day for news of their loved ones.

The miners, some of whom worked for Dynatec, a subcontractor at the K2 Mosaic Mine, were rescued after mine emergency crews with breathing apparatus were sent into the mine.

When the first group of 32 came to the surface, they showered, were given pizza and then driven home to their anxious families, who had waited anxiously to hear the news that they were safe.

Two mine rescue workers, who had been fighting the fire in the mine, described the reaction of the trapped men as ”exuberant” when they first made contact with them underground.

In line with their training, the 72 miners took refuge in large oxygenated rooms up to one kilometre below the surface when the fire broke out as their shift was coming to an end early on Sunday morning.

Officials succeeded in contacting some of the men by telephone, but the group of 32, the first to be freed, were cut off from all communications with the surface after the fire apparently damaged the telephone lines.

Waiting in the emergency rooms, they had access to food, water and blankets but were forced to use the light of their headlamps to see, rescue workers said.

Without communications, the group of 32 would have had no idea what was happening in the mine itself or the consternation that their plight was causing on the surface.

On Sunday, some family members waited for news at the mine. Others, company officials said, were kept updated of the progress of the rescue by telephone.

Finally about 5 a.m. local time (6 a.m. EST), Marshall Hamilton, a spokesman for Mosaic, made an announcement that the first group of men had been brought to the surface.

Two hours later, he was able to confirm that a total of 67 miners had left the mine.

Asked why five miners remained below ground, he replied: ”It's got nothing to do with their safety, it has everything to do with the size of our operations.”

Mine officials reiterated that all the rescues were going ahead as planned and that they did not expect any complications or injuries.

Brian Hagen, an official with Dynatec who flew in from Toronto, said: ”They're glad to be on the surface. They did their job. They got themselves into the rescue station.

”They were pretty calm. They had water, they had food, they had everything they needed.”

Officials said it was too early to speculate on the cause of the fire but that polyethylene pipe had been set ablaze.

Mr. Dyck, a mine rescue worker, said: ”There was a lot of smoke, it was hot and stuffy. But our training came through.”

The fire at K2, which opened in 1967, is the most serious emergency the mine has had to deal with in recent decades.

Mr. Hamilton said that the mine has a remarkable safety record. He said: ”It's safer working in a potash mine in Saskatchewan than it is working for the government of Saskatchewan.”

Canada and Russia are the world's two leading producers of potash (potassium chloride), which is used in fertilizer. The K2 mine is the largest in the world and measures 30 kilometres by 20 kilometres.

The mine management is expected to keep operations closed Monday and make a decision later as to when normal work can resume, probably in several days.

If the fire had broken out in the daytime, officials said, as many as 500 miners could have been underground. They have all been trained to make for the refuges in case of fire, specially set-aside caverns that typically measure about 15 metres by 40 metres.