Miners rescued after three days

NINE miners rescued from a mine in Pennsylvania were in surprisingly good condition yesterday after their three-day ordeal, doctors said.

"Their condition is remarkable given the situation they were in," said Dr Russell Dumire, a trauma surgeon at Comemaugh Memorial Medical Centre in Johnstown, where six of the miners are in hospital.

They had spent 77 hours immersed in 3 to 4ft of water, struggling to keep warm.

"When one would get cold the other eight would huddle around the person and warm that person, and when another person got cold the favour was returned," Dr Dumire said.

The miners also huddled around a pipe funnelling down warm air.

He said the nine, who sustained minor hypothermia but showed no evidence of decompression sickness, "decided early on they were either going to live or die as a group".

"All they've asked for is warm blankets, food and they want to go home."

Three of the miners were at Somerset Hospital in satisfactory condition, a spokesman said.

When they were contacted, one of the miners said, "What took you guys so long?" according to a rescuer.

Determined crews with no signs of life to encourage them since Thursday bored through the ceiling of the 4ft high chamber at 10.16pm on Saturday. This allowed workers drop a telephone line to the miners 240ft below and confirm they were alive.

Ron Svonavec was at the top of the rescue shaft when contact was first made. He said one of the miners told him: "There's nine men ready to get the hell out of here."

When they heard the news, the families, who had gathered at Sipesville Fire Hall, erupted in celebration. They cried and hugged and many spilled into the street with hands in the air.

"Wow. Wow. Wow. It's just unbelievable," said Lou Lepley, who has been working at the mine entrance for three days. "I have no words."

Though the miners had not been heard since Thursday because of the noise of rescue equipment, mining company spokesman John Weir said they "were tapping the whole time they were down there".

For days the men had been described as a tough breed. Air was pumped into the chamber at a temperature of more than 40C to warm them before anyone at the surface knew they were alive.

They became trapped in the flooded Quecreek Mine at about 1am on Thursday, when they inadvertently broke into an abandoned, water-filled mine maps showed to be 300ft away.

As much as 227 million litres of water rushed into the shaft where they were working, and they were able to warn a second crew, which escaped.

"They knew what was coming. We didn't. They are the heroes. If not for them, there'd be dead bodies," said mine worker Doug Custer, who was among the group who escaped.

Drilling a rescue shaft to the men, age 30 to 55, didn't begin until more than 20 hours after the accident, because workers had to wait for a drill rig to arrive from West Virginia.

The rescue effort was held up on Friday when a 1,500lb drill bit broke after hitting hard rock about 100ft down.