20 years later: Timeline of the Quecreek Mine rescue
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Nearly 20 years ago, nine miners emerged from the Quecreek Mine in Somerset County after being trapped hundreds of feet underground for nearly 80 hours.
That stunning scene played out from July 24, 2002 to July 28, 2002 on a small farm. Here's a look back at how it all unfolded.
On July 24, 2002, 18 miners reported to work at the Quecreek Mine and headed into the mine at 3 p.m. One crew of nine headed south, while the other nine went east.
All was well until just before 9 p.m., when they drilled into the abandoned Saxman Mine, sending 150 million gallons of groundwater flooding into Quecreek. One crew got out, but the other crew was trapped 240 feet underground.
By 3:15 a.m. on July 25, 2002, crews used GPS to pinpoint the most likely location of the trapped miners and began drilling the first hole for ventilation. Two hours later, the drill broke through and the miners began banging on it in a series of nine taps.
It was assumed that meant all nine miners were OK, but rescuers couldn't say for sure.
By noon that day, the water moved within 70 feet of the miners, and some of them began writing goodbye letters to their families.
Later that night, a so-called "super drill" was brought in, and crews began drilling a larger hole into the mine. Things were going slow but steady until just before 2 a.m. on July 26, 2002, when the drill bit broke.
At dawn, crews began drilling in a second location while working to remove the broken bit from the first escape hatch. By that afternoon, the broken bit was out and drilling resumed.
On July 27, 2002, after more than 24 hours of drilling, crews were still not there, but they were getting close. At 10:15 p.m. that same day, the "super drill" finally broke through.
Crews lowered a special two-way communication probe down into the mine and heard the news that all nine miners were alive.
Despite that, the rescue still wasn't over. Just before 1 a.m. on July 28, 2002, the first miner returned to the surface. Then the rest of them came up, one by one, until 2:45 a.m., when the final trapped miner emerged and gave a thumbs up.
The nearly 80-hour ordeal could've been a tragedy, but instead, it ended up being nothing short of a miracle in the mine.