Moises Alvarado, the head of the country's emergency commission, said the miners were rescued yesterday and were in "relatively good health, though they are exhausted and showing signs of severe dehydration." One of the three suffered severe contusions.
Alvarado identified the rescued miners as Byron Maradiaga, Bryan Escalante, 20, and Nehemias Mendez, 28.
A crowd of about 300 residents, volunteers and fellow miners cheered as the rescue workers brought the three miners out one by one in a rescue basket from the mouth of the mine.
Marco Tulio Artica, the head of the local fire department, said work to find the remaining miners is slow and hard.
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Workers have to use picks, shovels, and small pneumatic drills instead of heavy machinery because of the risk of further collapses.
"We still don't know anything about the other eight miners who are in other tunnels," Artica said.
More than 100 police, firefighters, rescue workers and miners were working during the third day of rescue efforts following Wednesday's cave-in.