After 320 hours trapped 925m underground, two men are free
Tuesday May 9 07:00 AEST
By ninemsn staff and wires
After 14 days underground, trapped Beaconsfield miners Todd Russell and Brant Webb are free.
At 5.58am, the two men walked, unaided, from the winder cage that brought them to the surface.
After punching their fists in the air to the cheers of the Beaconsfield crowds who had gathered outside the mine gate, they moved their safety tags to "safe" on the mine out board before embracing family members who rushed to hug them.
Mine manager Matthew Gill said both Brant — who came out of the tunnel first — and Todd were well.
"I am amazed at their condition. They are pretty tough. They are incredible people. They are absolutely incredible people," he said.
"In fact we were a bit worried with the amount they were eating we would have to make the hole a bit bigger."
Mr Gill said he expected the men would go to the funeral of Larry Knight, who was killed in the rock fall that trapped Mr Russell and Mr Webb.
The elation at the rescue was tempered with thoughts for Mr Knight's loved ones, who will be farewelled at a funeral this afternoon in Beaconsfield.
"My heart really goes out to Larry Knight's wife and family."
The odds finally worked in favour of the rescuers in the dying hours of the rescue effort, Mr Gill said.
"The amount of rock we thought we had to break was less. We were a bit further advanced than we though, so for once we had a bit going in our favour.
"The distance between us and Brant and Todd was a lot less and there wasn't the rubble we thought there might be.
"For once we did have something working on our side."
Rescue crews cleared the last vertical section of the men's 16m escape tunnel earlier this morning and reached the collapsed shaft where the men had been pinned in a small cage about 4.47am.
The men, who referred to their cramped pocket 925m underground as a two-star hotel — the pair being the two stars — miners received initial medical attention and were taken to the crib room at the 375-metre level for a shower and further treatment before returning to the surface.
It is thought they crawled through the escape tunnel themselves. They had showers and underwent preliminary medical checks before being driven in a four-wheel-drive up the corkscrew incline to a winder cage — the lift brought them the final 375m to freedom.
Mr Russell, 34, and Mr Webb, 37, were taken by ambulance to Launceston Hospital where they will undergo a series of tests to check their physical — and mental — wellbeing. Mr Russell gave the thumbs up sign as he drove past the cheering crowds lining the road outside the mine. Fallen colleague
The rock fall that trapped Mr Russell and Mr Webb in their wire mesh cage, killed their colleague, 44-year-old Larry Knight.
Mr Knight, a married father of three, usually worked in the cage that saved his mates. But the day of the tremor that brought the shaft down, he switched places with one of them so he could control the machine from the cabin — a decision that cost him his life.
All three had been working on installing wire mesh on the mine walls, a process designed to protect workers from rock falls like the one that struck on Anzac Day.
Fourteen miners made it to a safety chamber after the rock fall and were able to get to the surface unscathed. But Mr Russell, Mr Webb and Mr Knight — all well known local men with families — were entombed in the rubble.
Mine management assumed the worst. "[We hold] grave concerns for their well being," they said.
Although the mine's ventilation system was still working, no one knew the condition of the men — alive or dead, injured or unharmed. Getting them out would become a race against the clock.
Step one was to bring in a remote controlled heavy earth moving loader, fitted with two cameras. Twenty-four hours after the disaster, as the town held its breath, the serious digging began.
Within hours, came the news that everyone had feared.
"At 7.22 this morning one body was found during the rescue process at the Beaconsfield mine site. We have informed the families, but we are unable to confirm the identity," mine manager Matthew Gill said.
The body had been located by a remote control camera, 925m below the surface. The uncertainty causing untold distress for anxious families.
The body was eventually identified as Mr Knight's and it was not looking good for the other two men: five days had now passed, and the cameras could find no trace.
But last Sunday night, a remarkable story of survival emerged.
First detected by a thermal imaging camera, the two miners were discovered huddled together in a steel cage under tonnes of rock almost a kilometre beneath the surface
Rescuers initially heard mumbling, then contact was made. Mr Russell and Mr Webb were alive and in good spirits.
There were a few jokes and inquiries about who won the footy and one of their work mates was given the best job —breaking the news to their families.
More on the mine rescue mission
Monday, May 8, 2006
good on them!
