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CNN Live Today

In Pennsylvania, Slow, Difficult Process of Digging Rescue Shaft Under Way

Aired July 26, 2002 - 14:01   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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Now back to western Pennsylvania, where the slow, and dirty and difficult process of digging a rescue shaft is now under way. A second drill had just been started and a second shaft when the broken bit from the first drill was recovered from the first shaft. As hard as the digging might be, the waiting is even harder.

CNN's Brian Palmer's live from Somerset County with the latest from there -- Brian.

BRIAN PALMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Kyra.

Exactly right on all counts. We are waiting from further confirmation that second bit has been recovered and they are resuming drilling. We have heard it from very, very reliable sources, but people have gotten back to us and said, listen, you probably want to wait for some more confirmation. Something major is happening across from me now. So if we have to cut away, please bear with me.

But we're also joined by Captain Henry Schwartz, who is an undersea medical officer with the U.S. Navy.

Captain Schwartz, what role is the U.S. Navy serving here.

CPT. HENRY SCHWARTZ, U.S. NAVY: The engineers estimate that the miners are under a pressure equal to about 40 feet of water. They've been there for a day and a half, and when we bring them out, they are going to need some compression.

We brought about nine decompression chambers to treat them, along with about 58 Navy personnel to operate those chambers.

PALMER: Now you're expertise is obviously water. Why is the Navy actually able to play this role on ground?

SCHWARTZ: This scenario is close to scenario we envision for a disabled sunken submarine on the bottom, with survivors that may be under pressure and also will need to be decompressed. The cable that we are using to -- or we will use on the miners, is the same one that we developed for disabled submariners.

PALMER: Fantastic.

Captain Schwartz, thank you very much for your time.

So we are awaiting new information on what is actually going on underground now, and at the site, which is about three miles away from us now.

I just got the report from my producer, we found out that the drill bit has not been recovered. I repeat, the drill bit has not been recovered. So we got some premature information last time we apologize for that. Let me just say one more time, at the risk of being terribly repetitive, the drill bit has not been recovered from the first shaft, and therefore, the drilling has not resumed there. We are going to bring you as much information as we can when we get it -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Brian, I now we're having a little difficulty with the captain's mic there. I don't know if that's been fixed or not, but I was just wondering if we can just talk a little bit more quickly about why these individuals need to be decompressed, and you know, the issue of the bends, et cetera, and just the physical effect on the miners.

PALMER: As the captain pointed out, these are folks are under a tremendous amount of earth and they're under a tremendous amount of pressure, equivalent to about 40 feet under water. Therefore, decompression is a must. They have to be readjusted to pressure up here at ground level slowly. If they aren't. They run the risk of getting the bends, a very, very, very serious condition which can result in death in the most serious of cases -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Brian Palmer from live Pennsylvania. Appreciate it, Brian. Thank you.

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