Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Nine Trapped in Flooded Mine

Aired July 25, 2002 - 07:02   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get to Somerset County right now. First up, nine miners, again, trapped underground, the water rising, we are told, in a collapsed coal mine near Somerset in southwestern Pennsylvania.

Amy Mearkle of our affiliate WTAJ, on the scene last night and again this morning, brings us up-to-date now -- Amy.

AMY MEARKLE, CNN AFFILIATE WTAJ REPORTER: That's right, Bill.

Tragedy has once again hit here in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. Nine men are still trapped at this hour in a mine that has flooded.

Now, it happened about between 10:00 and 10:30 last night. They were working in a relatively new mine. These are 18 men, two groups of nine, and they actually drilled a hole into an old cave or an old mine that was actually filled with water. And that's when it started to flood the current mine they were working in. It's called the Quecreek Mine located in Lincoln Township, Somerset County.

Now, the first group of men were able to warn the other nine men that floodwaters were rushing in. Those nine men were able to get out, and I was just told by a DEP spokesperson on their way out of the mine, they were up to water at neck height as they were getting out. They had to run about a mile-and-a-half to get out of the mine.

Now, the nine men are still trapped. It's about 335 to 400 feet under the ground, is the size of this mine. They have only been mining it for about a year.

Now, the DEP spokesman that I just spoke with said there is -- it's a glimmer of good news at this point. They are hearing some tapping down in the mine right now. So they are getting in bigger rigs so that they can drill a bigger hole and get down into these men as soon as possible.

But that's the first report we have heard of being able to hear anything from the mine itself, and that just came in a few minutes ago that they actually are hearing some tapping, and that they are trying to bring in a bigger rig to get down to these men as soon as possible. But she said that it's a race against time, because the bigger hole they make, the more water rushes in, and water is still rushing in at this time, and so that is the race against time -- Bill.

HEMMER: Time is of the absolute essence.

Amy, one of the shocking things about this story is just how cramped the quarters are down there. Do you have a better description, other than 40 inches in height, in which these men might be operating and possibly trying to hang onto their lives right now?

MEARKLE: The spokesperson for Black Wolf Mining told us early this morning that it's about 12 foot wide by about 40 inches high. He said it could be higher in places, depending on how high the coal is actually inside the mine. So it is, it's very tight quarters, 12 foot by 40 inches, and so they are in a small space trying to get out.

HEMMER: So tight. Amy Mearkle, again, WTAJ, working this story for us in Pennsylvania today.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.