Canada ? Seventy-two potash miners in Saskatchewan walked away from an underground fire and toxic smoke on Monday after being locked down overnight in airtight chambers packed with enough oxygen, food and water for several days.

The company said the textbook case of safe underground mining was due to those chambers, extensive training of rescue workers and support from the rural community.

“I’m almost getting choked up thinking about how well this team worked together,” Marshall Hamilton, a spokesman for Mosaic Co., the Minneapolis-based owner of the mine, said after he got word that all the men were evacuated safely.

Greg Harris, one of the miners, said he was never concerned about his safety as he played checkers with colleagues in the refuge room waiting to be rescued.