Beaconsfield, Australia – Rescuers measured progress in fractions of an inch early today as they chipped away rock harder than concrete to free two Australian gold miners trapped for nearly two weeks deep underground.
Working through the night, a team of miners using pneumatic drills tried to punch through 45 feet of rock to reach Brant Webb, 37, and Todd Russell, 34, who have been entombed in a steel cage almost 3,000 feet underground since April 25.
Rescue teams were forced to shore up the escape shaft, a painstaking safety measure that was expected to further delay the effort to reach the men.
“It is still precarious,” said Bill Shorten, a union official. “This work is complex and difficult, unique in its challenges; that’s why they have to set it up right.”
Less than 6 feet from the trapped men, the rescuers switched to hand drills to avoid causing a cave-in. The solid rock crust, 59 inches thick, slowed progress to fractions of an inch.
“We are dealing with some of the hardest rock they have ever worked with, up to five times harder than concrete,” the mine’s manager, Matthew Gill, said. “It is not known how much longer this will take.”
The men, both fathers of three who have been in communication with their would-be rescuers, have been stuck since an earthquake caused a rockfall April 25. The rockfall killed 44-year-old Larry Knight, who was working in the same tunnel.
The death of a renowned television journalist from a suspected heart attack, just minutes after asking a question at an afternoon news conference Sunday, further cast a shadow over the town. Richard Carleton, an award-winning reporter with the Nine Network’s “60 Minutes,” had been asking about the mine’s safety record when he collapsed.
