Miners Rescue Mission [BREAKING Update- 11:11 PM EDT- Foxnews says "Nine For Nine" Yee Ha!]

Fox News Channel ^ | 7-27-2 | jp

[Rebelbase]

I was just curious why they need 18 helicopters to airlift 9 men. Keith in Iowa gave a good answer up in #324.

[vikingchick]

Ditto!!

[CedarDave]

ALL NINE ARE ALIVE!! Governor is emotional and happy!!

[kattracks]

Worker: All Nine Pa. Miners Alive

SOMERSET, Pa., Jul 27, 2002 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- Rescue workers made contact Saturday with some of the nine miners who have been trapped underground for three days via a telephone dropped through a pipe, according to rescue officials.

Rescuers were seen hugging and giving the thumbs-up sign soon after dropping the telephone into the shaft 240 feet below.

"They're all down there. They're waiting to come up. There's nine of them. We talked to them on the telephone," a mud-caked rescue worker shouted up from the pit near where they dropped the communication device.

After three days of desperate drilling, a giant auger broke through at about 10:16 p.m. to the dark and cramped chamber where the miners had been trapped since 9 p.m. Wednesday.

Workers quickly set about removing the drill and preparing the shaft for a rescue capsule.

Rescue workers had remained optimistic the miners were alive, even though there had been no contact with them since midday Thursday, when tapping was heard on an air hole.

Dozens of family members had kept a vigil at a nearby fire hall and had made several trips to the rescue site. Officials met with them every hour to keep them apprised.

Reaching the men, who were believed to be in a 4-foot high chamber, was sometimes painfully slow. Drilling a rescue shaft to the men, age 30 to 55, didn't begin until more than 20 hours after the accident, because workers had to wait for a drill rig to arrive from West Virginia. And drilling was halted early Friday morning because a 1,500-pound drill bit broke after hitting hard rock about 100 feet down.

A second rescue shaft was started and it wasn't until Saturday that measurable progress was being made on both shafts.

Pumps had been draining the mine of some 50 to 60 million gallons of water for days, but it was not known how much, if any, water had been in the chamber where the miners were believed to be.

Copyright 2002 Associated Press, All rights reserved

[A. Morgan]

Double dittos!!

[spokanite]

I'm watching CNN. Been the best coverage so far,

[Freedom4US]

Flying "spares", you would be amazed at how many helicopters are used for VIP missions, this is a special kind of VIP mission.

[strela]

I'm watching CNN. Been the best coverage so far.

Concur. Fox' coverage has been a disgrace.

[calawah98]

In case something goes wrong with one of them is what they said earlier

[Joe Hadenuf]

Governor on now, live, saying that it is confirmed that all nine miners are alive and that all nine alive, and that it's an incredible development and that he spent some time with the families.....and the families are aware......and some mission critical work to complete..... it's going to take a while to lower the rescue capsule........Drill hole broke through early, and as soon as that happened, the drill operator heard tapping, and everyone went silent so as to hear the tapping.....They lowered headphones and were in immediate communication........

[spokanite]

Tears of JOY!!

[mdittmar]

Here's a little country ode to the miners:)

[tomkat]

'all in reasonably good condition'

[calawah98]

miners are in reasonably good condition CNN

[PhiKapMom]

I agree! Been a long time since I have seen a reporter so down to earth!

[JZoback]

Concur. Fox' coverage has been a disgrace.

Fox really blew it.

My finger has a built in anti-CNN twitch when channel surfing, had to override it tonight.

CNN did a very good job.

[austingirl]

Same here and thanks to God.

[Doctor Stochastic]

A far better result than in the movie "Ace in the Hole" (AKA "The Big Carnival").

[tomkat]

'sending provisions - water, blankets, lights, food'

'this is gonna take a while'

(governor's cohort at press conference)

[Rebelbase]

Food, water, blankets and lights will be sent down in the basket as soon as the drill pipe has been removed, per speaker at press conference.