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CNN Live Saturday
Interview With Mark Schweiker
Aired July 27, 2002 - 17:00 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.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: Rescue crews are putting into motion another stage of a complicated plan to free nine trapped miners in Pennsylvania. They're racing against time and the elements to save the miners trapped in an underground air pocket since Wednesday. There is hope and a flurry of activity around the Quecreek mine. CNN's Jeff Flock is in Somerset, Pennsylvania. He has the latest -- Jeff.
JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, Renay, I want to give you the very latest from Governor Schweiker who has been remarkably accessible and helpful to us. We just pulled you out of a conference call. Thanks for coming over, governor. I want to get the very latest from you.
And as we talk here, I just want to give our viewers a graphic look, because everyone wants to know nuts and bolts how this looks. And I just want to -- if we can go ahead and put that graphic up and we can talk about it.
We have the two, rescue one and rescue two going down there. You have got that air hole that you've got punched down there. You have got another hole where you're pulling water out. Where do you stand as we speak?
GOV. MARK SCHWEIKER, PENNSYLVANIA: Well, we're getting closer when it comes to rescue shaft one. All the attention now is on rescue shaft one. Two has stopped because of a broken piece of equipment. And fortunately for us at this point, we can direct our energies and we can keep that focus on one because we're less than 20 feet away from the ceiling of that chamber.
FLOCK: You're less than 20 feet away now. Now, you've stopped there because you have got to put this air lock in place, correct?
SCHWEIKER: That's right. We've got to put the cap in place that guarantees that the atmosphere that exists below can be replicated within the rescue shaft itself and atop that apparatus.
FLOCK: We have got a picture just back from our pool crew out there. And I want to go ahead and give our viewers a look at that right now. That big long cylindrical thing. And what does that essentially do? That maintains the pressure there?
SCHWEIKER: No, it's a metal guarantee. That this supportive, life-sustaining atmosphere that ideally exists 240 some feet below is preserved. And that the same atmosphere exists within the shaft and atop that apparatus, as I just mentioned. It allows us to preserve it and to continue the drilling as we get closer to that ceiling, but guarantee that when we break through, that we don't introduce additional life-threatening circumstances.
FLOCK: Because you could have that water suck up into your bubble and then...
SCHWEIKER: Water, or you deplete the oxygen-rich air which we believe is a part of that shaft and that chamber.
FLOCK: OK. Now, once you get that cylindrical air lock in place, then you go back to drilling, correct? And you do the last 20 or 30 -- is it 20 or 30?
SCHWEIKER: Twenty.
FLOCK: Twenty feet. So you're within 20 feet?
SCHWEIKER: Yeah, we estimate we're at 224. It doesn't lend itself to fine measurement just because it's strata well below the earth's surface, but yeah.
FLOCK: Now, in a minute, I want to show our viewers the rescue capsule, but before I do that, I want to ask you, how close do you think you are in terms of time, then? Twenty feet to go. What do you think? They put the air lock in place. How long does that take, and then how long does it take to dig the 20 feet?
SCHWEIKER: It's tough to say. We're dealing with mother nature, and as we've all learned to understand and appreciate in the last three days, it's that we want it to go well, but it's going to be probably at least an hour or two before we begin to contemplate the very careful steps of breaking through the ceiling and then sending down that capsule with the atmosphere assessment devices that need to be sent down first before we think about sending down rescuers.
FLOCK: So I don't mean to pin you down. I'm looking at my watch. It says 5:00 Eastern time.
SCHWEIKER: I suspect that we'll not be in the position of actuating the real rescue, that is, the real rescue of our guys, until that point.
FLOCK: OK. Let me show you the bucket, then. And that's what's going to go down there. Now, tell me, are you going to send that manned or unmanned when you send it down time one?
SCHWEIKER: Time one, unmanned with the equipment. The atmospheric assessment devices, as well as being equipped with two-way communication devices also. So if one of the miners is right there, they're going to be able to instantly communicate with us and we can communicate with them, as well as directions to tell them what to do and such things.
FLOCK: And you've been practicing with that bucket. You'll also going to have a camera, I'm told, on the bottom of it.
SCHWEIKER: That's right, with lights to illuminate the scene, as small as it will be. And we hope, hopefully, hopefully it's bereft of water, and with some manipulation we'd begin the real rescue steps of bringing up these nine miners.
FLOCK: You look about shot. Are you doing all right?
SCHWEIKER: We're at it. We're staying with it.
FLOCK: Governor, thanks. I appreciate it. I'm going to let you go. I appreciate the time very much. We'll be back with you, and of course, we'll be watching this throughout the night, to give you the very latest on these various steps that need to take place. And there are several steps still to go.
That's the latest from here. Somerset, Pennsylvania. Jeff Flock, CNN, reporting live.
SAN MIGUEL: Sounds like they're getting into the riskiest part. Thanks, Jeff, and also thanks to Governor Mark Schweiker of Pennsylvania.
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