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CNN Sunday Morning

Nine Miners Rescued in Pennsylvania

Aired July 28, 2002 - 08:00   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.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, they we soaked and their faces were smudged, but they were alive.

THOMAS ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, they certainly were alive. We're talking about that mining rescue going on in Pennsylvania -- came to and end this morning. Earlier this morning about 1:00 a.m. is when we first got word that the first miner was coming topside, and by about 3:00 a.m., the last one came up, the ninth, and it's such great news that we have to share with you this morning.

We want to first though, find out more about what's going on from Somerset, Pennsylvania.

CALLAWAY: That's right.

ROBERTS: I want to turn now to our ...

CALLAWAY: CNN's Brian Palmer.

ROBERTS: Brian Palmer, who's been there -- he's been there since earlier this week. And, Brian, I first spoke to you when you arrived there, and things did not look so good, but now, things look wonderful, and we're finding out these guys have such a sense of humor, because when they were first talked to, and that line of communication was opened up, they said, "Hey, what took you guys so long?"

BRIAN PALMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, well, we've heard a lot about this brotherhood of miners, and their laconic sense of humor, and I'm not sure if I could have been that deadpan after being pulled out of the earth for, you know, after 76 hours.

But you heard the news, nine for nine, the first miner was pulled out at about 1:00 a.m., Randy Fogle (ph), the last one about 2:45, Mark Popernack (ph). It has been a tremendous three plus days here. Governor Mark Schweiker has been piloting this effort, so to speak, and in response to a question from a member of the press about how he maintained his optimism over this three-plus-day period, he gave this response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. MARK SCHWEIKER, PENNSYLVANIA: I thought it important as the lead dog, so to speak, to lay it down, this was going to be a rescue mission, and every remark, and every choice, and every expectation, and every action was about being consistent with the rescue effort.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PALMER: Now, we've been here for several days now, actually own Jeff Flock, CNN's Jeff Flock was on duty when all this happened. Our crew had actually gone to sleep. Jeff was a -- Jeff was on the ball at that moment -- Jeff, describe that first moment when you got that news, that the first miner had been pulled out.

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it really broke in the midst of a press conference, and one of the pool reporters called back from the scene saying, "We hear they broke through." And of course, the governor would not confirm it, because he didn't want the families to hear it from us, he wanted to hear it from them, so he said, "No, I would know if that happened."

So, we began chasing around, and it started to unfold, you know how those things just kind of start to unfold. So, it really unfolded in kind of a dramatic way, which was kind of neat.

PALMER: And the drama after so many days, I mean, in our press conferences, we would get these periodic press conferences -- there would be so much detail and sometimes the detail was mind boggling. I mean, we've got these charts behind us that have been up here for several days describing the various elevations, and they were meticulous in describing to us what could take place at a particular moment, via the elevations, the temperatures, that sort of thing.

That level of detail, apparently, was important.

FLOCK: And to us, we were kind of blowing that off at some level, saying, you know, I don't know, we were kind of cynical and not thinking this was really going to fly, but, you know, this is what it took. I took this hard headed, and I don't mean to be jingoistic in any way, but there's almost uniquely American, over the top, bring all of the resources to bear, take no -- do not take no for an answer, we are going to win this game, in the face of all what we thought were long odds, and in fact, I do think they were long odds.

But the other thing about that is that, you know, these miners say, they're trained for disaster. They spend a lot of time working on just this sort of thing, because they're in such a dangerous profession.

So, you know, in some sense, it makes some sense, you know.

PALMER: One of the other things that was really notable is the layer of insulation that the authorities put around the families. Can you describe that a bit?

FLOCK: Well, you know, I think we were all very respectful. I did not see one single interview from any of the family members. Nobody went up to the firehouse and tried to get in, and nobody intruded on their space. We took some pictures of them watching, but I think that was appropriate, and no on really violated that, and I think that was entirely appropriate, given what this is. I think, in fairness now, the gloves may be off, we may be going to knock on a door or two in the next day or so, because there are going to be some fascinating stories to tell, but appropriately so, I think we were respectful.

PALMER: Catherine and Thomas, I think you have some questions you want to toss to us.

CALLAWAY: Oh, you know, we have so many questions about this. This is such an incredible story; we seldom get the chance to have such a great ending to it. Jeff, what a great job you've done there last night, and throughout the evening on this, and into the early morning hours now.

But, my first question is, we noticed that the miners were soaking wet when they were pulled from the shaft, but we'd also heard that they were not in the condition that some had feared, from hypothermia, because they were not in the water as high as people had -- what do you know about that, and what kind of conditions were actually down there -- you know, we had speculated, but ...

FLOCK: That's a, that's a very good question. What actually happened on that, it was interesting to note that they did in, in fact, get wet. They were up to their noses, we are told, in water, at one point -- but, they got to a higher point, they got dry, and they stayed dry much of the time.

When they came up in the bucket, however, there was water running down from the cut that they had made. There was some, you know, there was some water running through that. So, there was water running through the basket -- that's how they all got soaked. We assumed they'd been soaked for the whole time; they really weren't.

The other thing is, and I wrote this down, because I -- you know, we talked about big of a little pocket were they in there. As it turns out, it was indeed only four feet high, but it was about 70 feet by 18 feet, and it went back quite a ways.

So, it was much bigger spot than we really thought they were in. They had really some room to move around, and you know, not that it wasn't so bad there, but it wasn't as bad, for God's sake, as we thought it was.

CALLAWAY: There were 240 people in the ...

FLOCK: I'm going down a wrong road here ...

(CROSSTALK)

ROBERTS: Let me say this for you, let me save this from you -- guys, I have a quick question for you concerning Thomas Foy, who was 52 years old, apparently the leader of the trapped crew, and Blaine Mayhugh, he's in his late 20s -- he's Foy's son-in-law? You know about that?

FLOCK: Well, we talked to -- yes, and we talked to actually the -- tell me know, the cousin of Foy's -- the cousin of Foy's wife. Yes, OK, and he came down and here's what he told me, which is just to me incredible, but maybe not so when you think about miners.

"Oh, he's going back in the mine. There's not question in my mind that these guys will all go back and continue to be miners," and, you know.

CALLAWAY: Oh, wow.

FLOCK: To me, it would be, maybe somebody's trying to tell me something here, and I should go and, you know, farm, or I don't know what else we can do, but ...

CALLAWAY: You know ...

FLOCK: They are likely to probably go back. It would be interesting to talk to them.

ROBERTS: Well, from what we understand, aren't most of them many, you know, 10, 15, 20 year veterans of working there, in the Pennsylvania coal mines?

FLOCK: Exactly, and, you know, this is often how this works. You wonder why somebody gets in a profession that has among, if I -- I think it may just have the highest death rate of any profession that we know.

PALMER: Thirty for every 100,000.

FLOCK: There you go -- why would you do that? Well, it's in -- truly in the blood, and, you know, those faces last night, those that -- cold, dusted faces, that's Norman Rockwell painting somewhere, you know.

CALLAWAY: It certainly is. Right, and the rescuer ...

PALMER: And the faces around them too. Go ahead, Catherine.

CALLAWAY: That's right, and all the rescuers had tears streaming down their face.

Brian Palmer, and Jeff Flock, thank you so much. I know our other networks want you. So, we'll let you go, but we'll have you back later, except for you Jeff, you need to go home.

ROBERTS: Get some rest.

FLOCK: I'm going to bed.

PALMER: Go to sleep.

FLOCK: Thank you though.

PALMER: Thank you.

CALLAWAY: You know, we should also say that these nine that were rescued were heroes themselves, because they actually notified the other crew of miners that were on the other side of the mine, to get out, that there had been a tragedy there, a disaster to run for your lives, and indeed they did. And when they emerged to safety, they discovered that those who had warned them were sill trapped.

ROBERTS: You know, what I read earlier was that this group, not only had warned the other crew nine, but something had gone wrong, and to get out, and that crew started to make their way toward the top, and they saw the water, and actually had to walk through all the water, to get up top and get on the golf cart, where they piled on, and then got out of there.

CALLAWAY: And now, they're all home, or at least in the hospital and safe, which is much better ...

ROBERTS: And they should be coming home a little later today is what we're hearing from many of the hospitals, two of the hospitals that we've had the opportunity to talk too.

CALLAWAY: Noon press conference, we're going to hear a lot more about the rescue efforts coming up. We'll certainly bring that to you live, if we can, and any information that comes out of that we'll bring to you.

ROBERTS: Also coming up on about 22 minutes, when we had that report from the first hospital, they reported there at KDKA that we spoke to, she said that that they should be coming to the microphones, or talking with the press there in about 20 minutes, and we hope to have an update ...

CALLAWAY: Right.

ROBERTS: ... on that situation.

CALLAWAY: But, indeed we know there's an update at noon for sure. They keep moving things around, I imagine everyone's running around very happy in Somerset, Pennsylvania this morning.

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