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CNN Live At Daybreak
Russia Mine Accident, 46 Miners Trapped Underground
Aired October 24, 2003 - 06:09 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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Now to those miners we were telling you about, trapped underground. It sounds so familiar. Forty-six coal miners trapped a mile and a half underground, and the mine has now filled with water. Of course, we're not talking about the Quecreek mine in Pennsylvania. That's over and it ended happily. But what will happen in southern Russia?
Live on the phone now, Ryan Chilcoate.
How are they doing -- Ryan?
RYAN CHILCOATE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Carol.
Well, rescue officials are still hopeful, but they have a very difficult job ahead of them. They say that they believe that there are 46 miners now trapped nearly actually a half-mile beneath the surface.
This mine, as you said, has been -- is flooding, is being flooded at a rate of about 2 feet an hour. That is a significant improvement from the situation yesterday where the water inside the mine was rising, if you can believe it, three feet a minute.
The rescue officials, one of the things they're doing is trying to stop that water flow. It's coming from a nearby mine, where it had accumulated and the pressure became so great that it broke into this mine. They're trying to dam it, if you will -- stop it up with rubble that they're pumping down in there.
The major problem here is there is absolutely no way to communicate with those miners down there almost a half-mile beneath the surface. No calls whatsoever. So, the rescue officials have no way of knowing, quite frankly, whether those miners are still alive or what their condition is in relation to that rising water.
And another problem, of course, is the issue of decreasing oxygen.
Now, this accident happened yesterday evening at about 7:00 p.m. In the mine at work, 71 miners, 25 of them were able to get out of the mine in time before the elevator, the power supply to the elevator shorted out. The power supply to the elevator shorted out because of the water coming into the mine. With that elevator gone, there is no way for those miners who are trapped down there now to get out on their own -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Well, our best to them. Ryan Chilcoate reporting from southern Russia live by phone this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired October 24, 2003 - 06:09 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Now to those miners we were telling you about, trapped underground. It sounds so familiar. Forty-six coal miners trapped a mile and a half underground, and the mine has now filled with water. Of course, we're not talking about the Quecreek mine in Pennsylvania. That's over and it ended happily. But what will happen in southern Russia?
Live on the phone now, Ryan Chilcoate.
How are they doing -- Ryan?
RYAN CHILCOATE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Carol.
Well, rescue officials are still hopeful, but they have a very difficult job ahead of them. They say that they believe that there are 46 miners now trapped nearly actually a half-mile beneath the surface.
This mine, as you said, has been -- is flooding, is being flooded at a rate of about 2 feet an hour. That is a significant improvement from the situation yesterday where the water inside the mine was rising, if you can believe it, three feet a minute.
The rescue officials, one of the things they're doing is trying to stop that water flow. It's coming from a nearby mine, where it had accumulated and the pressure became so great that it broke into this mine. They're trying to dam it, if you will -- stop it up with rubble that they're pumping down in there.
The major problem here is there is absolutely no way to communicate with those miners down there almost a half-mile beneath the surface. No calls whatsoever. So, the rescue officials have no way of knowing, quite frankly, whether those miners are still alive or what their condition is in relation to that rising water.
And another problem, of course, is the issue of decreasing oxygen.
Now, this accident happened yesterday evening at about 7:00 p.m. In the mine at work, 71 miners, 25 of them were able to get out of the mine in time before the elevator, the power supply to the elevator shorted out. The power supply to the elevator shorted out because of the water coming into the mine. With that elevator gone, there is no way for those miners who are trapped down there now to get out on their own -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Well, our best to them. Ryan Chilcoate reporting from southern Russia live by phone this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
