All 72 Trapped Canadian Miners Rescued

Rescuers retrieved all 72 central Canadian potash miners who were trapped underground by a fire and survived until Monday by using oxygen, food and water stored in subterranean emergency chambers.

The fire broke out early Sunday in the potash mine in central Canada, filling the tunnels with toxic smoke and sending the miners to take refuge in the sealed emergency rooms. The seventy-two miners were trapped more than a half-mile underground.

A rescue team reached one of the rooms late Sunday, after the mining company had been unable to establish a radio link with the 30 miners in that room for 18 hours.

They made sure everyone was safe, and then closed them back inside until the air inside the mine could be cleared of toxic gases, Hamilton said.

The other 40 miners were separated into two groups in other safe rooms, and were in phone contact with rescuers.

"They are glad to be on the surface," said Brian Hagan, director of health and safety for Dynatech, the contractor that employed the miners, adding they were not exposed to smoke. "They protected themselves and that is what they are trained to do."

"A lot of them said they had a good sleep down there in the refuge station," he said. "They were pretty calm. They had water, they had food, they had all the stuff that they needed."

The fire broke out in polyethylene piping around 3 a.m. Sunday nearly a half-mile underground in the province of Saskatchewan. It was not immediately clear how it started.

The miners reported smoke and quickly headed for the safe refuge rooms, which can be as large as 50 feet by 150 feet and have an internal supply of oxygen that lasts up to 36 hours, along with food, water, chairs and beds.

Within two hours, rescue teams were mobilized, each going into the mine for a few hours at a time.

Hamilton said some of the miners' families had gathered at the mine.

Rob Dyck, one of the members of the rescue team, said the fire created a lot of smoke.

"It was hot, dusty, but our training came through," Dyck said. "We've been in smoke before, but probably nothing this complicated."

The mine, which was Saskatchewan's first potash operation when it opened in 1962, is located about 130 miles northeast of the provincial capital of Regina.

Potash is a pinkish-grey mineral used in the production of agricultural fertilizer.

The drama in Canada unfolded Sunday as yet another miner's funeral was held in West Virginia, this last ceremony for Don I. "Rizzle" Bragg, 33, who was killed with Ellery "Elvis" Hatfield, 47, as a result of a belt line fire in the Aracoma Alma No. 1 coal mine on Jan. 19th.

That tragedy followed on the heels of a coal mine accident in Pikeville, Ky., on Jan. 10th, which killed one man, and the Sago Mine disaster in West Virginia on Jan. 2nd, which killed 12 men.

The deaths galvanized state legislators in West Virginia, who passed new mine safety rules signed into law Thursday by Gov. Joe Manchin. The bill will provide miners with emergency communicators and tracking devices, extra air supplies underground, and to require mining companies to report accidents within 15 minutes or face heavy fines.

Sunday, the family of Randal McCloy - the sole survivor of the Sago disaster, who is still in the hospital – along with the relatives of the other Sago victims received money from a benefit fund set up by ICG of Ashland, Ky., the owner of the Sago mine.

"We realize that no amount of money can take the place of a loved one, but we understand that you do have financial needs," the company said in a letter that accompanied the money. "We hope that this will help provide assistance as you plan for the future."