Rescuers fight to free trapped miners

Rescuers were drilling through rock today to reach two gold miners trapped underground.

Brant Webb and Todd Russell, wedged inside the cramped cage that saved their lives and drinking rancid water dripping through rocks trapping them 3,000ft underground, wanted just one thing when rescuers in Tasmania, Australia, finally made contact: bacon and eggs.

They are unlikely to get that in the next couple of days as rescuers who fear a second deadly rock collapse in Tasmania state’s Beaconsfield Gold Mine drill carefully through 40 feet of rock to reach them.

The tight-knit community living around the mine was still rejoicing today at news that the two men were still alive, six days after a small earthquake triggered a rock collapse that killed one of their workmates and sealed them deep underground.

The news that they were still alive came just hours after dozens of Beaconsfield residents gathered at a local church to pray for the men yesterday.

Australian Workers Union national secretary Bill Shorten said: “Beaconsfield is the centre of a mining miracle.

Local mayor Barry Easther said: “They say miracles happen. I didn’t think there was going to be one at Beaconsfield.”

The full story of their survival has yet to emerge but Mr Russell, 34, and 37-year-old Mr Webb were apparently saved by a slab of rock that fell on to the protective cage of their cherry picker and prevented smaller rocks slamming into them. Enough oxygen got through to the men to keep them alive.

Yesterday afternoon rescuers managed to drill a tiny tunnel all the way to the place where they were trapped. After feeding a local cameraman’s microphone through the narrow hole, they established a line of communication.

Mr Russell’s first words to his rescuers included an expletive and were short and to the point.

“It’s (extremely) cold and cramped in here. Get us out,” he said.

Those two brief sentences – the first confirmation in five days that he had survived – unleashed a wave of relief over both men’s families and the miners who had toiled for five days to reach them.

Michael Kelly, Mr Webb’s father-in-law, said: “When a man rushed through the door, covered in mud and crying, we thought that was the bad news.

“He burst into the room and fell down on his knees in front of (Mr Webb’s wife Rachael) and sobbed ‘He’s alive’.”

Officials said today it is likely to take another two days of painstaking drilling work to create a tunnel wide enough to extract Mr Russell and Mr Webb.

Mine workers were hoping to send some food and fresh water to them later today, but one expert said fulfilling the men’s initial request for a cooked breakfast after their days with little or no food would be a bad idea.

Professor Stewart Truswell, emeritus professor of the Sydney University human nutrition unit, said water was the most important thing for the men to have.

“Water is the number one thing. Water is much more important than food,” he said.

“It’s quite likely if they have bacon and eggs they would be sick,” he added. “I think they should start with something fairly bland like bread or cornflakes, but I’m not sure they are going to take my advice.”

Today’s joy in Beaconsfield was tempered by sympathy for the family of Larry Knight, who was crushed in the initial rock collapse and whose body was retrieved on Thursday.

Members of Mr Knight’s family were among hundreds of people who converged on Mr Russell’s home to celebrate last night.

Prime Minister John Howard paid tribute today to the people of Beaconsfield, saying they had shown “incredible resilience” as they waited, refusing to give up hope, for news of the missing men.

“All Australians will share the joy of the families of the two miners found alive at Beaconsfield, and that of the local community,” he said. “We must all hope that the two men are safely brought to the surface, and reunited with their loved ones.”

Despite the agonising ordeal Mr Russell’s family also has gone through, they had not lost their sense of humour.

“Todd’s putting in for meal allowance, overtime pay and living away from home allowance, so I hope they’ve got their cheque book ready,” Mr Russell’s mother Kaye Russell said.