Tough guys aren't they?! God Bless them and the people who rescued them.
Posted on 07/28/2002 12:00:29 AM PDT by kattracks
SOMERSET, Pa. (Reuters) - All nine miners trapped for three days in a flooded Pennsylvania coal mine were hauled to safety on Sunday, officials said.
Using a U.S. Navy capsule, rescuers pulled the miners one by one out of a flooded shaft 240 feet underground and up through a 26-inch wide hole that had been drilled down to the men.
The last of the nine men -- who were all in good condition -- was pulled to the surface at about 2:40 a.m., the officials said.
"All nine. All nine," Pennsylvania Gov. Mark Schweiker shouted in celebration as he pumped his fist in the air.The men were trapped in the Que Creek mine in rural Somerset County, about 60 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, on Wednesday when they inadvertently broke through into an abandoned, water-filled shaft. The rescue brought a jubilant climax to an agonizing drama in which rescue operations overcame a series of troubling equipment problems that caused an 18-hour delay on Friday.
Tough guys aren't they?! God Bless them and the people who rescued them.
The first of the freed miners, Randy Fogel, 43 is carried on a stretcher at the Quecreek Mine is helped out of the rescue capsule in Somerset, Pa., early Sunday July 28, 2002. (AP Photo/Steve Helber/POOL)
Rescue workers wait around the number one shaft for the drill to break through into the chamber as they get ready to bring up nine miners that became trapped at the Quecreek Mine in Somerset, Pennsylvania, July 27, 2002. The miners were trapped July 24 when the wall of an adjacent, abandoned mine was breached, releasing more than 50 million gallons of water into the shaft where they were working. REUTERS/Guy Wathen/POOL
Pennsylvania Gov. Mark Schweiker celebrates after announcing that nine coal miners were found alive Saturday night, July 27, 2002, after rescuers spent an agonizing three days drilling through 240 feet of earth to save them from a cramped and flooded mine shaft at the Quecreek Mine near Somerset, Pa. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
A rescue worker listens as he holds a microphone cable and hears voices of the nine trapped miners at the Quecreek Mine in Somerset, Pennsylvania, July 27, 2002. All nine miners trapped for three days in a flooded Pennsylvania coal mine are still alive, a family member of one of the trapped men said on Saturday. REUTERS/POOL/Steve Helber
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The last miner gives a thumbs up as he is removed from the Quecreek Mine July 28, 2002 in Somerset, Pennsylvania. Nine Pennsylvania coal miners who were trapped for three days in a flooded mine traveled one-by-one to safety on Sunday in a cramped yellow rescue cage hauled up through a 26-inch (66-cm) wide rescue shaft. Photo by Pool/Reuters - Jul 28 4:26 AM ET |
Miner John Phillippi is rescued from the Quecreek Mine, Sunday July 28, 2002 in Somerset, Pennsylvania. All nine miners trapped since Wednesday evening were successfully rescued. REUTERS/POOL-Gene J. Puskar
Pennsylvania Gov. Mark Schweiker (2L) helps carry out the last of the trapped miners at the Quecreek Mine in Somerset, Pennsylvania, July 28, 2002. Nine Pennsylvania coal miners who were trapped for three days in a flooded mine traveled one-by-one to safety on Sunday in a cramped yellow rescue cage hauled up through a 26-inch (66-cm) wide rescue shaft. REUTERS/POOL-Steve Helber
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