Trapped Pennsylvania Miners

Sweetpea · #1 07-27-2002, 01:51 AM

Rescuers Dig Toward Trapped Pennsylvania Miners
NewsMax.com Wires Saturday, July 27, 2002 SOMERSET, Pa.
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/arti...6/190955.shtml

-- Digging resumed Friday evening at Rescue Shaft 1 so rescuers were about 150 feet away from the nine miners trapped in a Pennsylvania coal mine after waiting most of the day for equipment and another 1,500-pound 30-inch drill bit to replace the one broken earlier.

A drill bit used by to dig to the miners broke early Friday and drilling came to a halt for most of the day while workers tried to remove the stuck drill bit and special equipment was flown in to the mine, about 55 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.

As rescuers worked to free the broken bit, a second rescue shaft was started about 75 feet from the original rescue hole, but workers had reached only about 40 feet down when the original drill bit was freed.

The Navy has sent underwater medical experts and nine hyperbaric decompression chambers to the site.

Because the miners have been about 150 feet underground, decompression will be necessary when the miners are brought up because they could experience the bends, according to U.S. Navy Capt.

According to Pennsylvania state officials, water is being pumped out of the mineshaft where the nine miners are trapped and the water level has been dropped by approximately 17 feet.

"It needs to drop another 16 to 17 feet to significantly relieve the water pressure surrounding the air pocket being provided for the miners," said Karl Lasher, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

Mark Schweiker, much of the rescue effort has been based on deductive reasoning, guess work and luck because no one has seen the miners since Wednesday night, when they were trapped by a wall of water that flooded the mine after the miners dug too close to an adjacent abandoned mine.

"The team really got lucky when they were able to find the chamber, enabling them to pump in air and increase the miners' chances of survival," Schweiker told reporters.

Rescuers were encouraged when they heard tapping on the 6-inch drill, but state officials said they have heard no more tapping since Thursday but they said the noise of the rescue effort might have masked any tapping.

The site was permitted in 1999 to Quecreek Mining Inc. a subsidiary of PBS Coals Inc., a subsidiary of Mincorp Inc. Quecreek contracted with Black Wolf Coal Co. of Friedens, Pa., to conduct mining operations at the site.

"I wanted to personally come to meet with the families and assure them that we are doing everything we can to rescue these workers," Schweiker said.

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I know sooo many miners...a lot of my family mined for a living years ago.

This is so awful...Lord, help these poor men.

The Finman · #2 07-27-2002, 02:02 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Sweetpea:
This is so awful...Lord, help these poor men.

Amen, Sweetpea....amen.

Simply Emo · #3 07-27-2002, 03:40 PM

Well; they're getting much closer...

Quote:

SOMERSET, Pa.

Rescue workers on Saturday grew closer to reaching a mine chamber far below the earth's surface and stayed hopeful that they'd find the nine coal miners trapped inside alive.

One of them went down 195 feet, about 45 feet from where the miners were believed to be trapped in a 4-foot-long pocket of a hollowed-out coal ridge.

There has been no contact with the nine men since Thursday, when rescue crews heard tapping on an air hole.

"The best-case scenario is that when we pull the drill bit out we hear hollering," said David Hess, secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

Wednesday when the miners broke the wall of an abandoned mine that maps showed to be some 300 feet farther away.

Mark Schweiker said if the drilling went well on Saturday, one or both of the rescue shafts would reach the miners' chamber by afternoon or evening.

At that point, rescuers would decide how best to puncture a protective air pocket where they believed the miners were huddled, and send a basket to retrieve the miners one or two at a time.

But once the rescue shaft was completed, it was expected to take time --- perhaps hours more --- as workers readied machinery to lower people who would bring up the miners.

Helicopters were prepared to fly the trapped miners from the scene, 55 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, to hospitals, and medical personnel would be on hand to immediately treat injuries or hypothermia.

Medical personnel said the air pressure on the miners was the same as that experienced at 40 feet underwater, and the men could suffer the bends --- bubbles in the bloodstream caused by rapid changes in pressure --- once they were rescued.

Air was being pumped into the chamber at a temperature of more than 100 degrees in the hope that it would warm the men, who could be sitting in a partially flooded chamber of chilly water.

Workers began drilling the first shaft on Thursday night and made good progress until around 2 a.m.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,58890,00.html

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Edited:

Links...Quantum, you got to provide links and not whole articles.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/702701/posts

The Finman · #4 07-27-2002, 11:27 PM

Associated Press:

<h2>ALL 9 MINERS ALIVE!</h2> [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/clap.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/clap.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/angel.gif[/img]

Sweetpea · #5 07-27-2002, 11:42 PM

Oh, what wonderful news!
Bless their hearts...they have been through hell, but thank the Lord they are alive.

Thanks for updating on this, Quantum and Finman. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Simply Emo · #6 07-27-2002, 11:47 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by The Finman:
Associated Press:

<h2>ALL 9 MINERS ALIVE!</h2> [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/clap.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/clap.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/angel.gif[/img]

YAY! I would've known sooner but people keep changing the tube from FNC... Hooray!!! Thankfully they don't have to use the fund for the miner families... God Bless the Rescue Workers!

Swift Work Laddies! [img]graemlins/clap.gif[/img]

Simply Emo · #7 07-27-2002, 11:53 PM

Quote:

SOMERSET, Pa. — Rescue workers have contacted the nine miners who have been trapped in a flooded mine shaft for three days, according to officials.

"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...

Click Here For The Full Story

I'm learning SweetPea; I'm learning!

Sweetpea · #8 07-27-2002, 11:58 PM

Good deal, Quantum.

Simply Emo · #9 07-28-2002, 01:12 AM

FOX NEWS has just reported that the 1st miner has been pulled from the mine!!!

MN-Cobra · #10 07-30-2002, 01:56 PM

I was thrilled to see them all come out alive, it was a much needed ray of sunshine!!!

On another note, FNC's coverage was great, but I have to say it.......Geraldo is SUCH a geek. [img]graemlins/twitch.gif[/img]

Cobra