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CNN Live At Daybreak
Thirteen Miners Still Trapped Underground
Aired October 27, 2003 - 06:35 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.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Rescue teams in Russia are searching for 13 men who remain trapped in a coal mine; 33 miners were pulled to safety on Saturday, but crews have been unable to find the remaining 13. They've been trapped underground now for four days.
Our Ryan Chilcote is following the story in southern Russia, and he joins us now via videophone.
Ryan -- what's the very latest now this morning?
RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Heidi.
Believe it or not, we are now in the 92nd hour of the rescue operation here. The entire focus is obviously on rescuing the 13 miners that have been trapped some seven football fields beneath the surface since Thursday night local time.
Some good news. There is a team of engineers working down there right now that are using explosives to literally blast a tunnel through the earth, hoping to reach an air pocket where they believe these miners may have sought refuge from the rising water. The mine was being flooded.
I say believe where these miners may be, because there has been no direct communication with the miners since the accident took place on Thursday, and the rescue officials simply don't know for sure exactly where they are or if they're still alive.
But that effort is going forward. They say they have just 20 yards to go. That's left in the length of your standard swimming pool. And they hope to break through as early as tomorrow morning.
Now, there is some bad news. The bad news is that the water that was flooding this mine that they were able to initially stop on Saturday has begun to flood in again, and it is moving in at quite a rate. Russian rescue officials are basically trying to clog up the source by filling up a mine shaft that it's coming from with rocks, but so far they have been unsuccessful. If they continue to be unsuccessful in stopping the flow of that water, the entire mine could be flooded by this evening. That would mean that this rescue effort is meaningless.
The other problem that they're facing is that although they believe that the miners do have enough air down there to survive several more days, they are concerned about the quality of that air. They say the level of poisonous gasses in the air is rising. That would make it difficult -- if they can breathe that it would make it difficult from them to breathe at best -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Ryan Chilcote live from Novoshakhtinsk, Russia. Thanks so much, Ryan.
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 27, 2003 - 06:35 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Rescue teams in Russia are searching for 13 men who remain trapped in a coal mine; 33 miners were pulled to safety on Saturday, but crews have been unable to find the remaining 13. They've been trapped underground now for four days.
Our Ryan Chilcote is following the story in southern Russia, and he joins us now via videophone.
Ryan -- what's the very latest now this morning?
RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Heidi.
Believe it or not, we are now in the 92nd hour of the rescue operation here. The entire focus is obviously on rescuing the 13 miners that have been trapped some seven football fields beneath the surface since Thursday night local time.
Some good news. There is a team of engineers working down there right now that are using explosives to literally blast a tunnel through the earth, hoping to reach an air pocket where they believe these miners may have sought refuge from the rising water. The mine was being flooded.
I say believe where these miners may be, because there has been no direct communication with the miners since the accident took place on Thursday, and the rescue officials simply don't know for sure exactly where they are or if they're still alive.
But that effort is going forward. They say they have just 20 yards to go. That's left in the length of your standard swimming pool. And they hope to break through as early as tomorrow morning.
Now, there is some bad news. The bad news is that the water that was flooding this mine that they were able to initially stop on Saturday has begun to flood in again, and it is moving in at quite a rate. Russian rescue officials are basically trying to clog up the source by filling up a mine shaft that it's coming from with rocks, but so far they have been unsuccessful. If they continue to be unsuccessful in stopping the flow of that water, the entire mine could be flooded by this evening. That would mean that this rescue effort is meaningless.
The other problem that they're facing is that although they believe that the miners do have enough air down there to survive several more days, they are concerned about the quality of that air. They say the level of poisonous gasses in the air is rising. That would make it difficult -- if they can breathe that it would make it difficult from them to breathe at best -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Ryan Chilcote live from Novoshakhtinsk, Russia. Thanks so much, Ryan.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
