Post by PeterB on May 8, 2006 22:49:05 GMT -4
At 9.30pm local time on Tuesday 25 April, an earth tremor triggered a rock fall in a gold mine at a town called Beaconsfield, in rural Tasmania (the island to the south of Australia). While most of the miners reached safety, three men were known to have been trapped, more than 900 metres underground.
Once things settled down, rescuers went down to retrieve the three trapped men. Three days later, they recovered the body of one of the miners, who’d been killed in the rockfall. Meanwhile, others continued to drill through to where the other two men were last seen. Amazingly, after another two days, they discovered the two remaining missing men were alive. The rescuers were able to pass food, water and a radio through to the men, who reported that they were contained within a metal cage 1.5 metres square, with a height of 1.2 metres.
The rescuers, who everyone had been fearing were engaged in a recovery mission, now had to work out how to rescue the two men. In the end, the process decided on was to excavate a tunnel to a point underneath the men, then bore upwards. The main concern of the rescuers was to ensure the vibrations from their drilling, blasting and excavating didn’t trigger another rockfall.
The progress was slow and unsteady, but knowing that the men were alive, uninjured and in reasonable spirits allowed them to take their time. The original bore hole was later used to pass fresh clothing, MP3 players, washing and cleaning materials, lighting and messages to the trapped men. Not surprisingly, the spirits of the men rose and fell over time, particularly as the rescuers encountered soft or hard rock. But when things were good their sense of humour was apparent (“We’re staying in a 2 star hotel, and we’re the two stars”).
For those of us above ground, the tension grew day by day as the rescuers got closer, with rescue always seemingly about 48 hours away. Then, a couple of days ago, the rescuers ran into rock which was said to be 5 times tougher than concrete, and the speed of advance slowed to a crawl. Last night, the rescuers were reduced to using explosive charges with less power than a shotgun shot.
But finally, at about 5am today, the miners finally emerged. They’d been trapped for nearly 320 hours. They were in good enough shape that they were able to walk out of the mine to waiting ambulances, and they should be out of hospital by lunchtime. That means they’ll be able to attend the funeral this afternoon of their colleague who died in the rockfall.
Once things settled down, rescuers went down to retrieve the three trapped men. Three days later, they recovered the body of one of the miners, who’d been killed in the rockfall. Meanwhile, others continued to drill through to where the other two men were last seen. Amazingly, after another two days, they discovered the two remaining missing men were alive. The rescuers were able to pass food, water and a radio through to the men, who reported that they were contained within a metal cage 1.5 metres square, with a height of 1.2 metres.
The rescuers, who everyone had been fearing were engaged in a recovery mission, now had to work out how to rescue the two men. In the end, the process decided on was to excavate a tunnel to a point underneath the men, then bore upwards. The main concern of the rescuers was to ensure the vibrations from their drilling, blasting and excavating didn’t trigger another rockfall.
The progress was slow and unsteady, but knowing that the men were alive, uninjured and in reasonable spirits allowed them to take their time. The original bore hole was later used to pass fresh clothing, MP3 players, washing and cleaning materials, lighting and messages to the trapped men. Not surprisingly, the spirits of the men rose and fell over time, particularly as the rescuers encountered soft or hard rock. But when things were good their sense of humour was apparent (“We’re staying in a 2 star hotel, and we’re the two stars”).
For those of us above ground, the tension grew day by day as the rescuers got closer, with rescue always seemingly about 48 hours away. Then, a couple of days ago, the rescuers ran into rock which was said to be 5 times tougher than concrete, and the speed of advance slowed to a crawl. Last night, the rescuers were reduced to using explosive charges with less power than a shotgun shot.
But finally, at about 5am today, the miners finally emerged. They’d been trapped for nearly 320 hours. They were in good enough shape that they were able to walk out of the mine to waiting ambulances, and they should be out of hospital by lunchtime. That means they’ll be able to attend the funeral this afternoon of their colleague who died in the rockfall.
