[Semper911]

They just said there are 18 helicopters standing by medivac the miners should they need it. There are 9 miners. What am I missing?

The governor wanted a helo for each of the men, and a back up helo for each one of those. Impressive leadership.

[Utopia]

They just said there are 18 helicopters standing by medivac the miners should they need it. There are 9 miners. What am I missing?

Backup helicopters in case there is a problem. Each miner gets a helicopter, and so there is absolutely no delay or problem whatsoever, there is a standby helicopter .. just in case. They're taking rescue seriously.