Great escape for trapped gold miners
By Nick Squires in Adelaide
(Filed: 09/05/2006)
Two Australian miners trapped 3,000ft underground for 14 days emerged above ground early this morning looking tired but well - and very cheerful - after rescuers pulled them out of their prison through a vertical tunnel.
Brant Webb, 37, and Todd Russell, 34, strode unaided from the main lift shaft at Beaconsfield Gold Mine in Tasmania, punched the air and removed their personal tags from the wall outside the lift - a safety measure for all miners finishing a shift underground.
Brant Webb and Todd Russell finally reach the surface
Wearing reflective jackets, protective helmets and head torches, they were greeted by bear-hugging friends and relatives.
The pair did not make a public statement but handed out small cards to family and friends printed with a name for their rescue: "The Great Escape."
"To all who have helped and supported us and our families, we cannot wait to shake your hand and shout [buy] you a Sustagen," the card said, referring to a nutrition drink the pair sipped while underground.
They were then taken to hospital in two separate ambulances, with the back doors wide open so that they could continue waving and laughing to the euphoric crowds who lined the streets.
They had been trapped inside a small wire cage since April 25 when a small earthquake caused the mine to collapse, killing one of their fellow miners.
"This is the great escape. This is the biggest escape from the biggest prison we have, the planet," said the Australian Workers Union national secretary Bill Shorten. "How on earth these blokes have survived for 14 days underground is stunning. We have been shaking our heads in wonder. We thought these guys had gone and now they've come back."
Australians had been transfixed by the two men's plight, watching constant updates as rescue workers battled to cut a tunnel through rock that they said was five times harder than concrete, working painstakingly slowly to avoid a further cave-in.
During the nail-biting operation, rescuers workers used drills and hydraulic rock splitters, sometimes having to lie on their backs to cut through. The men spent the first six days of their ordeal totally isolated while their family, above ground, began to believe they must be dead. They survived on one muesli bar and licked rancid water seeping through the rock.
After rescue workers heard their voices, they made contact with the men by poking a narrow plastic pipe through 50ft of rubble, and delivered them food, water, clothes, a digital camera and two iPod players programmed with their favourite music.
When the workers finally broke through the last layers of rock, the trapped miners greeted rescuers with cries of "yee-ha!", according to one of the rescuers, Rex Johnson. "It's a great day. Good to get the boys out," he said.
The first thing the two men - both married with children - asked for was bacon and eggs. Instead they were sent egg and chicken sandwiches and yoghurt. At one point they requested a newspaper so that they could look through the classified pages and find a new job.
As rescue workers drilled slowly through the rock, they kept the men talking down the pipe and gave them a light exercise routine to avoid their muscles seizing up.
Matthew Gill, the mine manager, said: "In fact we were a bit worried that with the amount they were eating we would have to make the hole a bit bigger. I am amazed at their condition."
By the time the two men emerged, they had become national heroes. News of their rescue was heralded by the mine's siren and then the bell at the town's Uniting Church pealed in celebration - the first time it had been rung since the end of World War Two.
Every major Australian radio, newspaper and television station has been camped at the mine site for days, with talk of £100,000 for an exclusive interview and £800,000 for a combined magazine, television, book and film deal.
But first, Mr Webb and Mr Russell are likely to attend the funeral of the one miner who died in the disaster, Larry Knight. "They're physically fit and they want to, yes," said Mr Gill. "I would be surprised if they don't."
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