Beaconsfield Mine Disaster

G

Grand Armee

At the Start
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Apr 23, 2005
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Sorry that I had not posted earlier on this tragic disaster which occurred on April 25 2006.

A brief summary as to what has happened:

* Tuesday 25th April 2006 - ANZAC day. A rock fall occurs at 9:23pm at night due to sismic activity. 17 miners originally underground, 14 escape to a safety chamber, 3 others trapped. A search and rescue now occur.

* Wednesday 26th April 2006 - two cameras in place, activity starts to remove the rock.

* Thursday 27th April 2006 - The body of Larry Knight is found under fallen rocks, the search for the remaining two miners, Brant Webb and Todd Russell begin.

* Sunday 30th April 2006 - voices heard from a radio, Brant Webb and Todd Russell are alive after spending 5 days trapped underground with no food or water.

They are now manually chipping away at the rock, working in a trio, on a 6 hour shift in 40 degree heat. It is believed they may return to the surface, 12 days after their ordeal tonight.
This is going to be the greatest story in Australia this year, and one truly about survival of the fittest. It has been an amazing journey watching the latest updates, and I can only imagine what the euphoria will be like when they do eventually get out.
Unfortunately these guys do not realise how much media attention they have brought to the Beaconsfield District.
 
I don't want to rain on anyone's parade, GA, but in the sort of heat those miners are in, they couldn't live 12 days without some form of water. In fact, it's very unusual to survive beyond 3 or 4 before becoming delirious through dehydration. Whatever, it's always good news when miners get out alive - it's not too often that happens.
 
We have had full coverage of the Beaconsfield mine rockfall, search and recue on our television here. Rescuers were astounded when the two man were foud to be alive and were able to pass food and water (and iPods!) to the two trapped miners after six days.
 
Have we? I haven't seen a thing about it! :confused: Ipods! I'm surprised they weren't given mini-lighting systems and webcams so they could film their own docudrama. Isn't Tommo standing by with a mike? "Sayyy... that was a bit special, wasn't it? How does that feel, big fella - ho-ho-OUCH!"
 
Kri,

The men actually survived for 5 days straight without any food or liquid (well sort of) being consumed. Another thing, they are stuck in their cage, which is the size of a cherry picker, this is what saved them from dying. They have been crouching in odd positions in this cage for the last 12 days.
Interestingly there way of surviving has been to lick the rocks where little bits of water have been flowing down. Apparently, dieticians have said that despite having no access to food, they could have survived for another 3 to 4 weeks just on water.

The operation in trying to rescue them has been the most difficult of anything ever undertaken in the world in regards to rescuing a miner. In fact they are trying to achieve the absolute impossible, something that no other country has ever had to do. Traditionally they would just dig down, blast the rocks, and then pull them up. But they are unable to do this for several reasons, the rocks are unstable and sismic activity is notorious in the region. They have had to dig down vertically, then horizontally into an unstable shelf of rock 13 metres, this took over 3 days to do. Now they have to use picks and little jack hammers to dig a further one metre, before they have to go up vertically drilling 50 holes, before blasting away the rock. What is most unbelievable, the two trapped miners, Brant Webb and Todd Russell actually spent 5 hours last night cementing the walls around their cage, to secure the rocks and make sure everything was stable. An amazing effort for two men trapped in tight conditions having to practically lay on top of each other.

As for their life after the mine, these two guys will never have to work again, based on past history, and the current endorsements being thrown at them, they will be set for life financially, and deservingly too.
In 1997 Stuart Diver a ski instructor, was found alive after 65 hours trapped under a landslide in the Australian Alps. He was the lone survivor of that tragic event, I believe 14 other people died. Diver sold his story for over $250,000 at the time, however he is a guest speaker whom is supposedly booked out 2 years in advance making up to $5000, because of his inspirational story. Diver also has his own management team, has written a book on the trials and tribulations of his horrorific experience, and has recently released an award winning film. He has also presented the Winter Olympics, and carried the Olympic torch in 2000 for the Sydney Games.
Douglas Wood whom was trapped in Iraq last year, and released, is currently quite well off for his experience, made $400,000 from a short interview.

Bidding for these two has started locally at AUD$500,000 and could go well up to AUD$2,000,000, and this each too. Internationally the story is in the millions as we speak. Then we have the book, film rights, on top of being marketing material as guest speakers.

Australians love their story for several reasons. You go anywhere here in Australia at the moment, every conversation is about these two blokes. Last night at the pub for instance, my mates and I only talked about them, and it was all we practically wanted to talk about. One thing foreigners should know about Aussies are that we are passionate about supporting the "Great Aussie Battler" the underdog. These two are perfect representatives of this saying, from Tasmania (says it all), have no tertiary education, are mining for a living. We also love mateship, and with two men in it together it makes it even better I suppose for the media outlets. You can imagine the heading the other day "Mateship at its best" it read.

I don't think these two blokes understand what impact they have in fact had on the entire of Australia, and internationally. The Foo Fighters actually want to personally meet them, because its the only music they both like. I don't think they know that they have made the front page of every newspaper in Australia every day for the past 12 days. I don't think they even know that what they are about to become will make them bigger than anything seen in this country for such a long time.

I will keep all posted. Heres to wishing it would HURRY UP! But as they say Better safe than sorry.
 
GA, if they're licking moisture off rocks they're staying somewhat hydrated, which is what I was saying - you cannot live long without access to some sort of water. You could also drink your own pee for some time, but I guess they don't have any receptacle to catch it in. Certainly food intake is nowhere near as essential as is moisture, without which the kidney function collapses and you self-poison through unreleased toxins. People can indeed go to skeletal conditions, as survivors of concentration camps under the Nazis and in Bosnia, more recently, proved.

I think we're pretty much aware of Australia's penchant for the underdog, but let's be honest, here: these guys aren't underdogs, are they, before we Disney this to death! They're a couple of normal, working chaps who've had the misfortune to be involved in a work accident. It's great they're still alive, even if it's still a way to go before they do get rescued, but in a way it's the rescue mission itself which is the 'central character' to their story, even though they'll do well out of it eventually. If they weren't the focus of the rescue mission and they'd died, they'd just be two more miners lost to their industry, as many still are in many other countries of the world. The story is really about the rescue effort, and I rather doubt the rescuers are going to be made into well-rewarded heroes, with films, articles, and speakers' circuits, right? It's odd that it's the people who merely suffer the accidents, and not the people who actually do the more heroic rescuing, who get the goodies.
 
Pulled out this morning, from the mine at around 4:50am AEST. They did not surface until around 6am, and physically walked out of the gates of the elevator.

An amazing achievement honestly. They were so bright and happy within themselves after all they have been through.

The Australian PM, John Howard indicated this morning on national tv in a live telephone call that they will likely receive a national reception.

Today their colleague Larry Knight is laid to rest, and Brant and Todd have advised they will strongly like to attend it.

This is truly an amazing story, and I will continue to say Aussie mateship pulled these two men together until the final minutes of when they escaped.

To all the rescuers, and everyone involved, what an effort.
 
It made me chuckle when they reported that one of the men has decided to resign from his job and the other wants to discuss his overtime with his boss. :D Sounds like these guys have a great sense of humour too.

Well done to all involved and how rewarding for their families to see the men actually walk free from the cage.

A great team effort.
 
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