Two trapped miners in Tasmania alive after hope was lost!

Wow! Some good news at long last. There have been so many fatal mining disasters in the USA lately, one cringes to hear the words 'coal mine' on a news broadcast. I breathe a sigh of relief in sympathy with the Tasmanian miners and their families.

Too many of these stories have bad endings. I hope they don't encouter fresh obstacles to getting them out.

Rock slowing mine rescue


Rescue workers are yet to reach two miners trapped underground in northern Tasmania.

Todd Russell and Brant Webb have been found alive, but are still trapped behind tonnes of rubble in the Beaconsfield Gold mine.

While last night's revelation that the men were still alive sparked jubilation above the ground, rescuers had no time to celebrate.

With about 12 metres of rock still between them and the survivors, they continued creating an evacuation tunnel.

They have managed to push a microphone through the rubble and talk to Mr Russell and Mr Webb.

The mine's manager Matthew Gill says it is a dangerous operation.

"Safely accessing the trapped miners is paramount and this will take some time," he said.

"I would like to urge people to be patient."

The men are entering their sixth day in the mine since an earthquake triggered a rock fall, trapping them and killing their colleague Larry Knight.

Mr Knight's body was recovered on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Mr Webb's son Zach has described how he heard the news of his father's survival being broken to other family members in a neighbouring room at his home.

"We started hearing a lot of noise and screaming and crying and we didn't know what happened until someone called out, he's alive," he said.

"Everyone ended up running outside and hugging and everything.

"It was really amazing, we were really over the moon about it."

Cage

Details of how the men survived the ordeal are beginning to emerge.

Mr Webb and Mr Russell were working in a machine, known as a Telehandler, when the rock fall occurred.

Mr Knight was controlling the vehicle, while the two survivors were in a suspened cage at its front.

Families of the men say a slab of rock fell on the enclosure, protecting the pair from much of the rubble.

They were carrying drink bottles with them, while water constantly runs down the mine's walls.

They are said to be tired and hungry, but in good health.

Mr Webb's sister-in-law, Natalie Kelly, says the pair's survival is amazing.

"They were in the cage, and that protected them, and therefore they weren't, there is a slab there above them, but they're okay," she said.

"They've heard mumblings at first but now they've been able to speak to them, so, they're not injured."

Good spirits

A number of rescue options are now being considered, including digging a small probe hole to the area where the men are.

Mr Gill says the pair are as well as can be expected.

"They appear to be in good spirits, despite their ordeal," he said.

"We believe they are in reasonably good health, given the length of time they have been trapped in the mine."

Mr Gill would not say what time the men are expected to be brought to the surface.

Their families have been told it could be some time today.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200605/s1627162.htm

Crikey on the mine's practices:

1. Beaconsfield mine blasting was "reckless" says local


Tasmanian journalist Wes Young writes:

The Beaconsfield mine management was "reckless" in its blasting practices, says a local resident who had been complaining about mining-related seismic activity for four months prior to last week's cave-in.

‘'Not once but twice the mine placed seismic recording devices in my home, which showed that it was routinely subjected to mining induced earthquakes measuring up to 2.1 on the Richter Scale," local resident Mick Wain said. ‘'I am simply staggered that the mine can do this up to four times a day and not be breaking mining guidelines.''

Wain told Crikey he had advised mine management that his home was being damaged and he was sick of having it "incrementally demolished." After raising his concerns with a local councillor, Les Rochester, Wain was informed that the council would meet mine management about the problem.

Rochester said an in-camera meeting between mine management, West Tamar Council and local member Michael Polley took place on February 15 .‘'The meeting was addressed by mine manager Matthew Gill, with the mine agreeing to repair damaged homes,'' Mr Rochester said. ‘'I couldn't believe it when Mr Gill claimed his engineers said most of the homes affected were of sub-standard construction.''

‘'I demanded to know if that was from when they were built, or now, as a result of mining, but he wouldn't give me an answer.''

Another source said Mr Gill had informed the meeting that some mine workers had raised safety concerns about the increased frequency of seismic activity due to a new blasting technique. ‘'I was astounded that such an important meeting was held behind closed doors because it was deemed to be detrimental to house prices and the mine's public image," he said. ‘'It all comes back to the blasting process because after an explosion there isn't a set timeframe for a seismic event.''

"They blast at one end of the tunnel, leave it for a while and then go back. The problem is that a tremor could occur immediately or a month later, the mine has the equipment to know which blast causes what earthquake. Unfortunately one blast triggered a simultaneous seismic event and a cave in was the end result.''

Mine management was unavailable for comment, but local member Michael Polley said he attended the meeting to be better briefed about structural damage occurring to buildings in Beaconsfield. ‘'I was in favour of a public meeting and one was held on March 2nd at the local community centre.'' Mr Polley said he couldn't recollect if miner safety had been discussed at the meeting.

‘'What I want to know is what does the February 15 meeting mean for duty of care with regard to the council, regarding a lack of action, and will the coroner look at that aspect?" said Rochester. ‘'In addition what is the exposure for West Tamar Council ratepayers and liability in general?''



ABC:

Mine rescue effort continues
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EMAIL STORY
PM - Monday, 1 May , 2006 18:10:32
Reporter: Tim Jeanes
MARK COLVIN: It's been a day of euphoria, tension and toil in Tasmania, as the massive rescue effort for the Beaconsfield miners continues.

As we go to air, it's predicted it could still be more than 48 hours before the rescuers reach their target.

They say that's because of the focus having to be on getting food and water to the trapped men. But we have just heard that the mine manager is announcing that food and water has been reaching the men, or has just reached the men. We'll hear about that very shortly.

Todd Russell and Brant Webb have both survived more than five days underground since being trapped by an earthquake.

Their fellow miner Larry Knight was killed in the rock fall caused by the tremor.

Tim Jeanes reports on a remarkable day in Tasmania's north-east.

TIM JEANES: The initial euphoria is still there in parts, but tonight it's shifting to a more sombre realisation.

Bill Shorten from the Australian Workers' Union says it's both a truly remarkable and a truly horrific situation.

BILL SHORTEN: We're talking 35 centigrade plus. These men haven't had water for five days. Perhaps they've been able to drink some of the rancid water which might have pooled around their area.

They appear to have been confined in a cherry picker compressed by a big boulder or rock in a space not much greater than a metre and a half by a metre and a half. They can't move easily, and somehow they're in reasonably good health and demeanour. This is amazing.

TIM JEANES: This is everyone's worst nightmare, surely?

BILL SHORTEN: To be 1,000 metres underground in a rock fall, where hundreds of tonnes of rock fall at explosive force, no light, five days. I can't even begin to imagine. I don't think there is a… Stephen King couldn't write a novel and comprehend what that must be like.

But they've survived. This is phenomenal.

TIM JEANES: Initial hopes were for a 48-hour recovery. But it's predicted that could well be longer.

Tasmanian Premier Paul Lennon was this afternoon briefed by mine management. He says it's impossible to make any concrete predictions.

PAUL LENNON: What I can say, though, is that they are receiving fantastic cooperation from other mines around the country, from experts, no matter where they might be, from people who have been involved in similar circumstances before, and we thank them for that.

I'd also like at this time to make a plea on behalf of the family and friends for them to be given a bit of space at this time, particularly from the media.

We've had some very good news last night that of course has confirmed that the guys are still alive. But there's still a long way to go and the families still dealing with all the difficulties that that brings for them. So I do ask if we could give them a bit of space, please.

TIM JEANES: The recovery is seeing a small hole being drilled to the miners, with the aim of inserting a PVC pipe to send food and drink.

Medical staff and psychological counsellors are in touch with the trapped men.

Part of the process has involved a microphone being used to communicate with them.

ABC cameraman Paul Di Benedetto helped install the equipment.

PAUL DI BENEDETTO: It's about the size of… a little larger than, a match head. And then it's got a cable that runs to a preamplifier about the size of a cigar.

I went up with Alan, one of our technicians who's running the satellite dish, and he had 100 metres of audio cable. I had the microphone.

And we went up to the mine and the first question I asked was: "Has anybody got a condom?" And I was met with some rather strange looks. And I explained that we needed something to waterproof the microphone, because it was going into a very hostile environment.

There was a mad scramble and that request couldn't be met but they produced some rubber gloves. And I sliced the finger off a rubber glove and taped the capsule of the microphone into that and prepared the preamplifier.

And they then took it away and they've inserted it into a PVC conduit into, I believe, the space where the miners are trapped and they're able to listen.

TIM JEANES: With the mine's future now under a cloud, Tasmanian mines minister Bryan Green says it's too early to speculate.

BRYAN GREEN: The future of the mine is obviously an issue. I mean the fact is that it's not me that makes that decision. It's the mining inspector. And I, of course, rely on their expertise with regard to this.

But, you know, the mine has been extremely important to Beaconsfield and there are 120-odd people employed here. But it will not operate if it's not safe.

TIM JEANES: Away from any political considerations, family members continue to just wait and pray.

Karina Mitchell, who's the aunt of trapped miner Todd Russell. She's been joined by another aunt, Alison Hasler (phonetic) from Newcastle.

Karina Mitchell says the family continues to hold hope, although the death of miner Larry Knight in the accident is adding to the difficulty of everyone's situation.

KARINA MITCHELL: We were told there for a while that just tonnes of dirt and rocks has fallen down and there really was nowhere for them to hide.

And we always hoped that the big machine that they would have been able to get under that, maybe, and that. And then we were told no, that wasn't far enough off the ground. And they were really trying to prepare us, I think, for the worst.

But, you know, we kept on saying: "We don't feel like he's gone. We don't have that feeling that he's gone." Like Rachael kept on saying: "If he was gone he could come to me."

And none of us… like, we just never ever had that feeling.

But we just feel so sorry for…

ALISON HASLER (phonetic): For Larry.

KARINA MITCHELL: … for Larry. Just, you know, it's sort of like a two-edged wedge. It's sort of… you feel so happy for yourself and so sad for Larry's family though. So I don't know.

MARK COLVIN: Karina Mitchell, ending that report from Tim Jeanes.

The Mayor of West Tamar Council has read out a statement from the family of Larry Knight saying that they're pleased that his mates are alive. The family says it won't confirm a date for Larry Knight's funeral until the rescue effort has concluded. They say they'd also like to thank everyone for their sincerity and understanding at this time.


http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2006/s1628002.htm



Advertiser report:

Inside the black hole 1km under the surface
By KARA PHILLIPS
02may06

TRAPPED

AS BEACONSFIELD continues to celebrate the miraculous survival of Tasmanian gold miners Todd Russell and Brant Webb, mining experts have warned the biggest test of survival is yet to come.

University of South Australia professor of mining and geology Stephen Priest said the closer the rescuers got to the men, the closer they would also get to the unstable rocks that collapsed and trapped them last Tuesday.

"Vibrations of even the smallest amount around the fallen rocks could spell some disaster," said Professor Priest, who survived a rock slide in a UK mine in 1974.

The rescuers at the Tasmanian gold mine were last night drilling holes into the rock face and filling them with small explosives to create a new tunnel to reach the men.

However, Beaconsfield Gold Mine managers and the union warned it could be tomorrow at the earliest before they can be brought to the surface.





"When they get within a few metres I expect they might even switch to jackhammers or smaller explosives still," Professor Priest said.

"They will have to work very, very slowly to ensure safety."

Professor Priest said fumes and heat from the explosives would also be a problem.

Yesterday, the rescuers were less than 12m from where the two men are trapped in a cherry-picker cage, beneath a large slab of rock.

Rescuers had to abandon the technique of using large blasts to get through the rock, in favour of more targeted use of explosives and drills, due to safety concerns.

Australian Workers' Union national secretary Bill Shorten said the drilling was going slowly, but surely.

"The compartment where they are is not very large, but I've been assured that Tasmanian hard rock miners are the most accurate drillers in the world," he said.

The three miners were using a machine called a telehandler, a common piece of equipment in mines and construction sites.

It is a compact vehicle with a telescoping boom arm, which can be raised or lowered and extended for a longer reach.

The compact vehicle base, low cab and extendable boom makes it ideal for mining operations - but telehandlers have to be modified extensively for use underground and in confined spaces. Extra filters are added to the exhaust system, fire suppression systems are added and brakes are modified for use on steep inclines.

Mr Russell and Mr Webb were in a 1.2m by 1.2m steel cage at the end of the boom on their telehandler when the roof of the tunnel collapsed. A slab of rock that landed on top of the cage is being credited with saving them from the rock fall that killed their colleague, Larry Knight, 44, who was believed to be operating the machine.

Groups of up to 10 miners are spearheading the rescue campaign. About six of these men are directly involved in the excavations.

Dominion Mining Ltd operations manager Garry Mills, at the Challenger Gold Mine in South Australia, said rescuers would be "well aware of the dangers of falling ground".

"They would be going from good ground to very poor ground and in that transition, they'll have to assess that cut by cut, which means every time they (use small explosive charges) to get closer they would have to be aware of a new plan, a progressive plan as they near those guys," he said.


These men have spent a week in a cage smaller than the kind of cage you associate with a lion in a bad circus.......they would find it hard to stand up, they are within inches of each other constantly.........

I have become quite sickened by the actions of the media during this traumatic rescue effort.

The television stations are jumping over each other to get "the big story". Due to broadcast hitches yesterday, messages coming through headphones to the reporters were being broadcast along with the actual reporters' spiel. Seemingly cold-blooded instructions regarding the questions to be asked of relatives, etc. Really milking their emotions.

It brought to mind that terribly depressing movie "The Big Carnival" with Kirk Douglas. I realise now that was an incredibly accurate portrayal of the ethics of the media. I just hope this story has a different ending.

I can imagine!


I haven't actually seen any television coverage, except the odd very brief late night update.



It must be a nightmare for those guys down there! I can't imagine how hard it must have been before they knew help was coming, however slowly, and before they were able to be given food etc.

Although, the wait must be excruciating.

Being pretty much housebound these days, I put the teev on during the day for background noise. This week there has been a lot of live coverage, so I made a point of stopping to go and watch, but I can no longer do so. There are about forty trailers set up at the site - all for the media. Wardrobe, make-up, canteens. Incredible! And the 'on-the-spot' reports seem to be prefaced by references to the underhanded methods rival stations are using to get interviews.

After the initial euphoria the townspeople have all gone back to their normal lives - still caring and worrying, but putting it to one side until they actually get the miners out. It must be pretty awful for them.

And if you're wondering how a leader keeps getting re-elected, when the leader of the opposition tries to use a situation like this as a political ploy, what else would one expect?

One of my sisters moved from Perth to Tas about a year ago, and she lives in Beauty Point, about a mile or so from where the mine is located. She works in a government dept. and recently (before the miners were found alive) staffed a shift on the emergency hotline, at the beginning of the rescue operation.

While she was on duty, she received a call from a woman saying she was a clairvoyant, and that two miners would be found alive, in some sort of container.
She passed the message on to the police, and was told off for doing so. The policeman was really annoyed, and said that it was total crap.

A day or so later, they were found.....

Actually, I think beazley was correct to point out that the new industrial legislation will endanger many workers.



Mine rescue enters crucial phase
Rescuers at the Beaconsfield gold mine have spent their first night drilling an escape tunnel towards trapped miners Todd Russell and Brant Webb.

As the men spent their tenth night underground, the rescue team continues to inch towards the miners, five agonising days after they were discovered alive.

The men survived a rock fall, which killed one of their colleagues, but the two miners are trapped in a small steel cage almost one kilometre underground.

A raise borer started cutting a metre-wide tunnel about 8:00pm AEST yesterday.

The tunnel will come up directly next to the men's cage through 16 metres of dense rock.

It is yet to be seen how much progress the five-tonne machine has made in about nine hours of drilling so far, after it took almost 24 hours to drill a 20 centimetre pilot tunnel.

The metre-wide tunnel is expected to take significantly longer because of the large quantity of dense rock to grind through.

Mr Webb and Mr Russell have spent their first night on air mattresses and are now on a diet of solid food.

But they are said to be getting frustrated at the drawn out rescue mission.

Task force

A new task force to help Beaconsfield recover from the tragedy will meet for the first time next Tuesday.

Tasmanian Premier Paul Lennon has promised that the miners, their families and the Beaconsfield community will receive whatever social and economic help is needed.

He says while the primary focus is still on the rescue of Mr Russell and Mr Webb, it is time to prepare for the weeks and months ahead.

He believes any inquiry into how the tragedy occurred could take many weeks.

Mr Lennon says the heads of six government departments, the mine management, the Australian Workers Union, the Federal Government and the West Tamar Council will identify economic growth opportunities while the mine's future is determined.

"I think it important that the local community drive this task force, which is why I've asked the Mayor, as the leader of the local community, to chair it and he has very gratefully accepted that," he said.

The Mayor, Barry Easther, says one of the first jobs is to identify economic growth opportunities for the town and surrounding area and the support needs of the miners.

"That's going to be one of the first tasks for the task force that has been set up and I would like to compliment the Premier on moving so quickly to get this task force in place and I think it's wonderful that we're meeting next Tuesday to get moving on this straight away," he said.

Councillor Easther says the council has always had a good working relationship with the mine.



Can't comment on the clairvoyant thing, LE, except that I think police get pestered by them whenever anything big happens, and we don't hear about all the ones that are dead wrong.

There's an ongoing investigation right now regarding the cause of a recent mine cave-in which killed several miners in West Virginia, USA. The mine owners are suggesting that the cave-in may have been caused by a lightning strike quite a few miles distant, rather than shoddy safety precautions!!!

Last few hours for these guys underground, hopefully.....


Digging now being done by shifts of 3 guys, on their backs, with pick axes, and with the rubble being carried away in buckets.



The trapped men have been given blood thinners, to attempt to avoid DVT's in tghe terribly cramped circumstances, and also exercises.


Rescue said to be at riskiest stage.....

#%%$ *&*%^# %^^%^!!!!!!!


How much longer can these guys manage to keep going!

Miners remain trapped as tough rock hinders rescuers
It is looking like another anxious night for residents in the northern Tasmanian town of Beaconsfield, as they await news of the rescue effort to free the two miners trapped underground.

Rescuers have been confronted with rock up to five times harder than concrete as they try to break through to the two men.

The mood in Beaconsfield overnight was one of optimism.

Crowds had gathered in the local park across the road from the gold mine into the early hours of the morning in the hope that they would witness the emergence of miners Brant Webb and Todd Russell.

But the rescue efforts have been hindered by the tough rock.

Mine manager Matthew Gill says that expectations overnight had been high

"Certainly people are hopeful. The reality is this is a long and tricky process that we wamt to make sure we are doing safely," he said.

At the Uniting Church service In Beaconsfield this morning locals and people from nearby communities offered prayers for the safe return of the two men lighting candles of hope for their rescue.

Teams are detonating low grade explosives to try and free them two men.

When asked whether could free tonight, Matthew Gill said it was not likely but that tomorrow was a possibility.



Quite a nice Guardian article, which gives a lot of detail about the two fellas, if anyone is reading!



Australia holds its breath as two heroes of the deep near rescue

Kevin Mitchell in Sydney
Sunday May 7, 2006
The Observer


The church bells of Beaconsfield, a small town in north Tasmania, have not rung since the end of the Second World War. But last night the bellringers were preparing to go to work again as two mates who have been buried alive for 12 days half a mile deep after the collapse of the town's goldmine on 25 April were being dug free of their nightmare.
The plight of Brant Webb, 37, and Todd Russell, 34, has held a nation in thrall to the exclusion of even sport and politics. Last night workmates lying on their backs and using shovels and picks hacked away at the last three feet of rock as the nation's media hovered above.


Article continues

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Waiting for the two, who had been given up for dead, beside the cameras were paramedics ready to ferry them to nearby Launceston Hospital. Their lives have been dissected and Australians are now happy to proclaim Webb and Russell heroes of storybook proportions.
When contact was finally made five days after the collapse of the mine, their sense of humour cut through their rock prison. Bulletins thereafter teased family and friends. From the moment their voices were picked up, on 1 May, nobody was sure how long it would take to extricate them.

Once found, the men were fed via a 10cm plastic pipe. They were given clothes, food, iPods, torches and a digital camera. All the while, Webb and Russell, without artifice, built on their legend. Russell's reaction when first contacted was: 'It's [expletive] cold and cramped in here. Get us out!' Webb and Russell are miners. From Tasmania. It is unlikely it was 'jolly'. When their boss Matthew Gill spoke to them, they said: 'Don't worry about us, we're in a two-star hotel ... and we're the two stars.' But they knew how close they had come to death. They will be besieged with offers for their story, estimated to be worth £1m. It began after an earth tremor ripped through the mine on Anzac Day, 25 April, killing colleague Larry Knight but dropping a rock over their cage, a protective cap that saved their lives.

The story the media are salivating over is of two men who laughed while incarcerated in a cage 6ft by 6ft, unable to stand upright, amid fears of deep-vein thrombosis setting in.

There was also the political storm above ground. Kim Beazley, the leader of the Labor opposition, invited scorn last week when he was accused of using the story to bash the government's proposed redrafting of industrial relations laws. 'Those two men struggling for life were trained in workplace health and safety techniques,' Beazley told a rally in Brisbane. 'They know that the men coming to them ... have been strengthened by their association over the years with unionbased training programmes and they know if [the Prime Minister] John Howard removes these programmes - as he intends to - all workers are threatened.' Howard refused to be drawn into the row but his Workplace Relations Minister, Kevin Andrews, demanded Beazley apologise. Even some of his Labor supporters distanced themselves from the controversy.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions, alarmed at what it says is rampant deregulation of the workplace, supported Beazley, pointing out that 7,000 Australians a year die in work-related accidents or from industrial diseases.

All this swirled half a mile above the heads of the miners as they injected grout in the rocks around them to reduce the risk of further rockfalls and initially drank rainwater from cracks. Rescuers faced a task of unimaginable complexity. A former mine safety officer said the rock was five times harder than concrete, and the drilling machinery that had tunnelled alongside the mineshaft had to be delicately removed to avoid triggering another collapse. As union official Bill Shorten observed last night, the last phase of the job required 'old fashioned muscle'.

Poignantly, the digging has been done by the two men's colleagues - promised a month's pay but not security thereafter. There is no guarantee that the mine will function again. It was flooded in the late 1990s and, when the gold price rose, reopened, the owners claiming they could make around 400,000 dollars a day for it. That future is now much less certain. As is that of Beaconsfield.

As their mates chipped away at the last yard of rock into the early hours, Webb and Russell hunched down for at least another eight hours in their cage. The only certainty about their future is that they will argue long and loud with doctors who have said they will not be able to have a beer for at least a day.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/australia/story/0,,1769531,00.html

Thay have been freed!

Ya beat me to it, EB . . . i just heard this on CBC . . . HOORAY ! ! !

Just heard on NPR.

YIPPEEEE!!!

It's a funny world when you find stuff like this out from Americans!



And they WALKED out!!!!!



Russell, Webb walk from gold mine
Miners Todd Russell and Brant Webb have reached the surface of the Beaconsfield Gold mine, 14 days after being trapped by a rock fall.

The "great escape" is how the Australian Workers Union has described the survival of the two men.

Rescuers reached the men, who were nearly one kilometre underground, just before 5:00am AEST.

They were taken to a special crib room before being brought to the surface.

Rex Johnson, one of the rescuers and a friend of one of the men, says the men had a "few yeehahs" when they were freed.

"They are in really good spirits ... we had them down in the crib room and we didn't think they'd get out, they wanted to pamper themselves up pretty well," Mr Johnson said.

Mr Russell and Mr Webb raised their arms in triumph as they stepped out into the fresh air.

They hugged family and friends and thanked their rescuers and many supporters before getting into waiting ambulances.

The ambulances drove out of the mine gates with their doors open, so the crowds outside could see the miners for themselves.

The Australian Workers Union's Bill Shorten says the men will be taken to hospital for full medical check-ups.

"These people are going to speak for themselves but as I understand, they're in remarkably good shape," he said.

The Launceston Hospital's chief executive officer, Stephen Ayre, says it is likely the men will not be in hospital for long.

"The assessments will take about an hour and then we'll be talking to them and advising them and they'll take the advice or make their own decisions in regard to what they want to do," Mr Ayre said.

Rescue effort

The manager of the mine, Matthew Gill, says the rescue plan went well.

"For once we actually had a bit going in our favour," he said.

"The distance between us and Brant and Todd was a lot less and there wasn't the amount of rubble that we thought there might be."

The head of the Minerals Council in Tasmania, Terry Long, says a hydraulic rock splitter was used in the final stages to reach the men.

"It's like a big car jack and that breaks the rock away, they had the pilot hole they got through and [said] 'how you going guys?'" he said.

"People were telling me early in the piece there had to be a relatively short time in the breakthrough and the rescue for Todd and Brant's own psychological health - it wouldn't be good for them to see the pilot hole come through and then have huge delays."

'Tough blokes'

Prime Minister John Howard, who has been briefed on the operation, has paid tribute to the bravery of the men and miners in general.

"It is a great tribute to them, they are fantastic, they're tough blokes," he said.

"It's a hard job, it's grim, difficult, dangerous, dirty work mining, even in this era."

Mr Howard says the rescue is a moment of great joy for the nation.

"Overall it has been a wonderful demonstration of Australian mateship and perseverance," he said.

"To those two men I just want to say to them, 'All of us - 20 million of us - are delighted to still have them with us'."

Highs and lows

The Minister of the Uniting Church at Beaconsfield, Frances Seen, says it is one of the most incredible stories ever.

"All our prayers have been answered," she said.

Local Mayor Barry Easther says it is great news for the families, the town of Beaconsfield and everyone involved in the rescue.

But he says it is a day of highs and lows.

The funeral of Larry Knight, who died in the rock fall that trapped Mr Russell and Mr Webb, is due to be held today.

"It's a real emotional time and a time of mixed emotions for us and this community today," Mr Easther said.

"We've got Larry's funeral ... later today and it's a sad day and yet it is such an exciting time to have these two lads brought back to the surface, [it] is just a dream come true."


http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200605/s1633713.htm

Proud to do it.

Overtime payment is gonna be a doozy!

Haven't Howard/Costello stopped that?


Anyway, can't the mine owners argue that the guys were on an extended, unauthorised smoko? I mean, were they WORKING?


:wink: