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CNN Live Today
CNN Down in Mine
Aired July 30, 2002 - 12:07 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: For three days, you saw miners digging and drilling determined to rescue the nine trapped men in Pennsylvania, but how did they know where to dig? Everyone involved says the credit belongs to one man.
CNN's Brian Palmer has his story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN PALMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): After three harrowing days, surveyor Bob Long is back in his regular routine.
PALMER: Tell me what we're looking at?
BOB LONG, ENGINEER TECHNICIAN: Well, right now, I'm just going to get my Rover and the data collector for the GPS unit and get my base started up.
PALMER: Long used this same high-tech GPS gear to tell the rescuers where to drill the 6-inch-wide shaft that kept the trapped miners alive.
LONG: And that was the whole objective, at that point, was to get some warm air down there and some fresh oxygen because, at that point, we didn't know what the atmosphere was.
PALMER: At what point did you know you hit the right spot?
LONG: When we saw -- well, when we saw the drill bit drop down, we knew that we were through and that we hit a void. Within a couple a minutes, the miners starting banging on it, and when we heard the tapping and we knew.
PALMER: Long made sure his measurements were accurate, within a fraction of an inch.
PALMER: They wouldn't have known where to put that air hole, if they didn't know, exactly, what the coordinates were, and that's what surveyors do, correct?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. Yes, it was a pretty tense moment, when I was driving that stake and I said, right there, that's where you need to go.
PALMER: Long says he'd rather not relive that tense night and the three days that followed. But the payoff, the rescue, was priceless. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, I remember how I felt when my daughter was born, my first daughter, the second one, my son, you know, -- that ranks right there, you know, with -- when they were getting them out, that's what I felt like, you know, like there was a new life, right there.
PALMER: Brian Palmer, CNN, Somerset, Pennsylvania.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: The miners' ordeal captured the attention of the country and the world. Now, it's the focus of a special Pennsylvania commission, and it's also inspired our own Jeff Flock to take a rather unique view of the situation -- Jeff
Well, as you can see, our Jeff Flock, believe it or not, is down inside a mine shaft, and we are having a little bit of a technical problem with his audio, as you can imagine looking at his location. We're going to work on that and try to get him back to you in just a moment.
(INTERRUPTED BY NEWS UPDATE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: All right. Now, I'm understanding that we do have our Jeff Flock live down in an actual mine.
Gee, I wonder why we're having problems with audio, Jeff?
JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, it's funny, water running through an abandoned mine will go into a mixer, and if it's electricity, it will short it out. We've just learned that, but there you go. Perhaps we should have thought of that.
But, at any rate, indeed, go ahead, Walton (ph), and continue what you are doing there. We -- Kyra, you know, you and I, yesterday, talked about trying to get down into a mine to see just what these miners are up against. This is one that has been abandoned since the '60s, but what they do is bring tours down in here. Walt Prosleyik (ph) is, now, showing us how they mined back in the, you know, times gone by. Can I stop you, there, one second, there, what are you doing, right there, as we speak?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm undermining this cut, preparing it for a blasting. This was done before they got the machinery. It's (UNINTELLIGIBLE) under mine about 3-1/2 feet. Holes was drilled into the coal, and it was blasted down (UNINTELLIGIBLE) into the (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
FLOCK: Got you, and you got, I know, other pieces of gear that work here too. What are we looking at here, Glenn? What is this piece of gear, here? Go ahead and kick it on, if you would.
GLENN: This piece of equipment, right here, is a Miller (ph) bottom logger. This saves a lot labor. Basically, it replaces the process that Walt was showing you, there, a minute ago. This under cuts the base, and then, you back it out, and move it over, and sump it in , again. Continue to back it over and move it over and sump it in till your whole base is undercut. Then, you use this large (UNINTELLIGIBLE) here, to drill your shot holes above the coal. Plant (UNINTELLIGIBLE) they shoot it down.
FLOCK: And, finally, I want to get over to Jerry (ph). I'm sorry, to Jake Miller (ph). This is a great thing cause people can come down here and see what this is like, but the reality is this is like the Saxman Mine ...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, it is.
FLOCK: ... the abandoned mine.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, you (UNINTELLIGIBLE) got about four feet of (UNINTELLIGIBLE) up in here. It's a little water than what they were down there, but you can see how it is, hard for us to move around up in here cause it's only four feet high.
FLOCK: This is what they were dealing with.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
FLOCK: In addition to being an abandoned mine, like the one that caused them all the trouble. I'm going to have you go ahead and do what you do for some of the folks that you bring down, here, for a tour.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here, we bring people in for a tour, we show them how this equipment runs. That bottom (UNINTELLIGIBLE) machine and this stuff has not run since the early '60s, so we got it running. So what we do, we bring the tourists in, and we turn it on, we turn the lights on and show them how dark it is in here. So I'm going to turn this equipment on, and once I get it running, I'll turn the lights off and show you how dark it gets.
FLOCK: And Jake Miller (ph) who was in the mines for about 38 years, used to work in this actual mine when it was an operating mine back in the '60s. And, of course, that was Saxman, too, back in the '60s, and then, it was shut down. We're talking about the effects of a shuttered mine like that and a new mine coming along and the water running through like it did with these miners. That's a real possibility out here, now. Not in this mine because it is mapped well, but the ones that, perhaps, aren't mapped as well ...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, this one, here, is mapped well, but maybe, the mine next to it doesn't have a map to it. So we'd be in the same shape they would be down there. We wouldn't know what would be on the other side of it.
FLOCK: You can go ahead, and do what you do in terms of the lights. Maybe, we ...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I will turn the lights out here. FLOCK: And then, we can get a sense for, this is with just our camera light on. Now maybe, if John (ph) goes ahead to knock that off. maybe we see just what these guys were up against.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is all you have, this cap light and this bug light here. That's the only means of light you had.
FLOCK: They probably wouldn't have even had the bug light, right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, they, probably, had the bug light, but it'd run out of fuel in about 8 hours, but this cap light will, probably, use about -- go for about 10 hours.
FLOCK: Kind of tough to think about what these guys must have been going through?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, they had it rough down there.
FLOCK: Very good.
Kyra, that's the latest. A real opportunity, a great opportunity. Perhaps, you can take it off, there, Jake, if you can. A real opportunity to see how this old mine operated, what it's really like under the ground because even though the equipment has changed, what this looks like in terms of the size of things and the way it shakes out, down here, is pretty much the way those guys dealt with it for 77 hours.
Back to you.
PHILLIPS: Jeff, how tall are you?
FLOCK: I am 6-foot even.
PHILLIPS: Six-foot even.
FLOCK: Maybe five eleven and three-quarters, but there you go. I am standing straight up as much as I can.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am 6-foot tall, and I am kneeling up. I can't straighten up.
PHILLIPS: Now, you guys ...
FLOCK: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) I tell you ...
PHILLIPS: See how you're putting it into ...
FLOCK: Go ahead, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: ... perspective, Jeff. I'm thinking of the nine miners, OK, nine of those guys in that same type -- I mean, you're putting it into perspective. Seventy-seven hours just like that.
FLOCK: Exactly ... PHILLIPS: That's incredible.
FLOCK: ... in this very position. And, apparently, you know what they do? Go ahead, and I'll demonstrate it out, if you would, Jake (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is what they call a third leg. Next time you see one of them miners that was trapped, that's for how long they did this with their hammer?
FLOCK: Apparently, this is something they do to try to get some relief on their backs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It gives my back and legs a break, and, also, I didn't get wet in there, if I sit down.
FLOCK: Using it, kind of, as a chair, not the most comfortable chair in the world, but there you go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It works.
There you go, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Wow. Incredible access. Jeff Flock, thank you so much.
FLOCK: Appreciate it, Kyra. Yes, we're happy to have this opportunity to get down in here.
PHILLIPS: We appreciate it too.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
FLOCK: Thanks, Jake.
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