Rescuers tell how humour kept trapped miners going

TWO Australian miners freed after 14 days trapped deep underground survived by digging through rock and rubble with their bare hands, drinking dirty trickles of water and joking about their fight for life.

Trapped in a cage the size of a double bed under a cave-in which looked like a nuclear bomb had struck, it took a maverick miner to risk his own life to find his trapped mates, local newspapers reported yesterday.

Brant Webb, 37, and Todd Russell, 34, walked free of the Beaconsfield Gold Mine in the pre-dawn darkness on Tuesday after a cave-in on April 25 killed a third miner, Larry Knight.

But it was their night shift supervisor, Gavin Cheesman, who emerged a hero in their rescue.

Against orders, Mr Cheesman climbed over the rockfall which entombed them 925 metres (3,000 feet) underground and dropped a glove through the rubble to the two men, whose shouts in response erased the worst fears of the rescuers.

“It was like a nuclear bomb had gone off. You look up and there’s things bigger than houses hanging off the walls,” miner David Johnson told The Sydney Morning Herald.

In almost total darkness, with only his miner’s lamp to guide him, Mr Webb dug for four and half hours through rock and rubble to free Mr Russell’s leg.

Neither man has spoken to reporters, but could end up rich if reports of offers for their exclusive story are confirmed. One report spoke of a A$6 million (€3.6m) offer.

But their survival, like their rescue, was a team effort. The pair used their mining skills to survive, guiding rescuers with a digital camera, and sparks of humour gleamed in the dark. Rescuers joked with the men, asking them how the diet was going.

At one stage Mr Russell asked for a newspaper, saying he had quit and wanted to look for a new job.

They survived on water trickling through the rocks until rescuers bored through hard rock five times as strong as steel to get to them and send food through a small plastic pipe.