BEACONSFIELD, Australia — Rescuers made voice contact with two miners trapped a half mile beneath the earth for nearly a week, astonished to learn the men are still alive and apparently unhurt. But officials warned it could still be days before rescuers reach the men.

Word of the men's survival came hours after residents of this small gold-mining town in the island state of Tasmania gathered at a local church Sunday to pray for them.

Todd Russell, 34, and Brant Webb, 37, have been trapped since Tuesday when a small earthquake caused a rock collapse at the Beaconsfield Gold Mine. One of their co-workers was killed in the quake.

Rescue workers began blasting a tunnel toward the men, not knowing whether they were dead or alive. Late Sunday afternoon, rescuers dropped a local cameraman's microphone through the opening and were amazed to hear the men talking. Using an amplifier in combination with the microphone, the rescuers were able to establish two-way communication.

Russell's first words to his rescuers were short and to the point. "It's (expletive) cold and cramped in here. Get us out," he implored them.

Their first request for after they're freed: a breakfast of bacon and eggs.

Officials said today it likely will take another two days of painstaking drilling work to create a tunnel wide enough to extract the men. Mine workers were hoping to send some food and fresh water to them later in the day.

"They say miracles happen. I didn't think there was going to be one at Beaconsfield," Mayor Barry Easther said.

Rescue workers said the men were apparently saved by a slab of rock that had fallen onto the protective cage of the cherry picker they were using at the time, preventing smaller rocks from slamming into them. Enough oxygen and water had reached the men through cracks in the rocks to keep them alive.

The news the men had survived unleashed a wave of relief over the men's families and the tight-knit community of about 3,000 people.

"When a man rushed through the door, covered in mud and crying, we thought that was the bad news," said Michael Kelly, Webb's father-in-law. "He burst into the room and fell down on his knees in front of (Webb's wife Rachael) and sobbed 'He's alive."'

However, the joy was tempered by sympathy for the family of Larry Knight, who was crushed in the initial rock collapse and whose body was retrieved Thursday. Members of Knight's family were among hundreds of people who converged on Russell's home to celebrate Sunday night.

"Larry's family ... told us how lucky we were and shared our happiness, with their grief. I was grateful," Russell's father Noel told Australian television's Seven network. "They were the brave people."

Prime Minister John Howard paid tribute today to the people of Beaconsfield, saying they had shown "incredible resilience" as they waited, refusing to give up hope, for news of the missing men.