Hello Fellow Earthlings,
Living less than 50 miles from this week's tragic news of NINE Trapped Miners in Somerset, Pennsylvania, USA, it gives me great pleasure to share the following with you all....
All nine miners
rescued alive and in good condition. 'Miracle' caps three-day drama
NBC, MSNBC AND NEWS SERVICES
SOMERSET, Pa., July 28 — After hours of steadfast drilling and agonizing setbacks for rescuers, nine miners emerged in surprisingly good condition early Sunday after three days spent fighting for their lives in a western Pennsylvania mining shaft. Their rescue brought a joyous end to a tense drama as crews raced to bring the men back to the surface before they could succumb to chilling water and a slowly diminishing air supply. One of the miners had this blunt greeting for the rescuers: "What took you guys so long?"
RANDY FOGLE, 43, of Garrett, the married father of three children, emerged in a capsule that had been lowered to retrieve him about 1 a.m. ET. He was retrieved first because he had reported minor heart palpitations, but officials at Conemaugh Hospital, where he soon arrived, said he was slightly hypothermic but otherwise well.
Eight more followed Fogle, stepping off the capsule roughly every 15 minutes, with Mark Popernack, 41, of Somerset, a married father of two children, bringing the drama to a close at 2:45 a.m.
As they emerged, the miners surprised medical personnel who had prepared to treat them for symptoms of hypothermia or the bends, an excruciating condition caused by sudden changes in pressure.
In the end, however, little medical attention was required for the miners. All nine were pronounced in fair to good condition early Sunday after they were taken to hospitals, where they were to remain for 24 hours and were reuniting with their families.
In addition to Fogle and Popernack, the miners were identified as:
Thomas Foy, 51, was the leader of the trapped crew, according to his sister, Neva Glessner, of Garrett.
Harry B. Mayhugh, Foy's son-in-law. He is in his late 20s, married with two children, according to the family baby sitter and newspaper reports.
John Phillippi, of Gray, the married father of a young son "who idolizes everything his father does," according to neighbor Lori Supanick.
Ronald Hileman, of Gray, an avid hunter whose wife runs the Hileman day care center in Gray, neighbors said.
John Unger, 52, of Hollsopple. His mother, Mary Unger, said he owns a horse and raises cattle on the family farm when he is not working in the mine.
Robert Pugh, 50, of Boswell.
Dennis Hall, 49, of Johnstown.
Ron Svonavec, of Somerset, was at the top of the rescue shaft when contact was first made. He said one of them said, "There's nine men ready to get the hell out of here. We need some chew."
RESCUE RACES ALONG
The rescue operation hurtled along so much faster than had been expected that state Environmental Protection Secretary David Hess jokingly apologized to reporters for making them race to report the latest developments.
The sequence of events, which state officials called a "miracle," began at 10:16 p.m., when workers alerted bystanders and reporters that they had broken through to the chamber where the miners were trapped.
Once rescuers managed to reach the underground chamber, they used the operation's 22-inch wide, 100-inch rescue cage to lower provisions including food, water, blankets and lamps.
More cheers erupted when crews sounded the alert that all nine were alive.
Gov. Mark Schweiker made the good news official at 11:33 p.m.: "All nine are alive." He said all nine were miraculously in good shape.
"This is a miracle," John Weir, owner of the mining company, Black Wolf Coal, said. "We're going to get them up. We're going to get them in the arms of their loved ones. ... A coal miner is the toughest person who walks the earth."
The fourth miner to emerge had a bright smile on his blackened face as he was pulled up in the yellow, cylindrical capsule. Some of the miners had chipped American flag decals on the sides of their helmets. One miner's helmet flashlight was still aglow.
'THEY'RE ALL DOWN THERE!'
Drilling resumed Saturday night after a pair of frustrating delays, and at 10:15 p.m., Schweiker said rescue workers were only about 6 feet from reaching the miners. Moments later, other officials alerted bystanders and reporters that they had broken through. More cheers erupted when crews sounded the alert that all nine were alive.
"They're all down there! They're waiting to come up! There's nine of them!" a mud-caked rescue worker shouted up from the pit near where they dropped the telephone.
Though the miners had not been heard since Thursday because of the noise of rescue equipment, Weir said they "were tapping the whole time they were down there."
The Sipesville Fire Hall, where the families had been gathering, erupted in celebration. Families cried and hugged and many were in the street with hands in the air.
"Wow! Wow! Wow! It's just unbelievable," said mine worker Lou Lepley, who has been staffing the mine entrance for three days. "I have no words."
HOW IT HAPPENED
The miners became trapped in the flooded Quecreek Mine at about 9 p.m. Wednesday, when they inadvertently broke into an abandoned, water-filled mine that maps showed to be 300 feet away. As much as 60 million gallons 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, among the group who escaped.
The rescue attempt has transfixed the nation and the region, a hilly, rural area long dependent on coal and one that suffered tragedy during the Sept. 11 attacks. The 40 passengers and crew on Flight 93 died when it was taken over by hijackers and crashed near Shanksville, about 10 miles from the mine. Schweiker said family members of Flight 93 victims sent an e-mail message to the families of the miners while they awaited word.
Since 1870, 58,000 Pennsylvania miners have been killed on the job, but there has been only one fatality in the last couple of years.
Black Wolf Coal Co. has been cited 26 times for minor violations of federal mine safety regulations since March 20, 2001.
NBC's Robert Hager, MSNBC.com's Alex Johnson and Michael E. Ross, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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