Rescued Miners in Pennsylvania

Working in the coal mines of southwestern Pennsylvania is backbreaking and dangerous. When disaster strikes, when shafts collapse and trap miners inside, it rarely ends well. But in July 2002, nine miners and their dogged rescuers in Somerset, Pa., pulled off a miracle. The men were trapped on a Wednesday when a wall of water burst into their mine shaft. There was no time to escape. They were stuck in a four-foot high chamber, with water nearly up to their shoulders, 240 feet underground. They tethered themselves together, so no one would float away. They huddled close to keep one another warm. They found a lunch bucket, and after sharing the ham sandwich and the soda inside, they filled it with letters they wrote to their families. And they waited, for three excruciating days. By Thursday, rescuers could hear no sign of life, but they did not stop digging. The miners’ families held a grim vigil, their anguish etched on their faces. And then it happened. A drill finally reached the chamber just after midnight Saturday. Rescuers lowered a telephone and heard a voice say, “There are nine men ready to get the hell out of here.” Pandemonium erupted—and elation, tinged with disbelief. No one could believe that this disaster would end without a single life lost, least of all the miners themselves. They emerged one by one, pulled to the surface in a narrow rescue cage, giddy that they defied death.