The Miners Trapped Underground For Two Weeks
And how the Foo Fighters inspired them
On April 25, 2006, a gold mine in the town of Beaconsfield in Australia collapsed with seventeen people inside. Fourteen miners managed to flee to safety, but three men, Brant Webb aged 37, Larry Knight aged 44 and Todd Russell aged 34 were missing. A 2.2 magnitude earthquake had struck while the three miners were attaching wire mesh to the side of a tunnel 925m below ground.
The eyes of the country focused on this small town to see if these three men could be found.
The search begins
The media were alerted to the disaster and the fact that three men were unaccounted for. Management from the Beaconsfield mine released a statement saying that it held grave concerns for the miners’ well-being. There was no contact from the missing men and everyone assumed the worst. Mine rescue teams and ambulances descended on the mine to commence the search.
A remote-controlled heavy earth-moving loader fitted with two cameras was brought in to commence the rescue. It drilled down the 925 metres and begun removing rocks. After two days of drilling, rescuers made a devastating discovery — they found the body of Knight. There were now worries that Russell and Webb had suffered the same fate. The Beaconsfield…
