Jul 30, 2002 3 min read

Our hearts filled with joy. The nine were alive. Even the most optimistic among us started to doubt after three days passage that the nine coal miners trapped in the Quecreek Mine could have survived. It seemed almost impossible to believe that after 77 hours, with the nine miners crouched in a narrow passage immersed in 55-degree water, that they could possibly still be alive waiting for rescue. Even more impossible that their injuries were few and minor and that they retained a sense of humor in asking for some chew and brew in their first communication. This miracle that unfolded into the early hours of Sunday morning as each of the miners was hauled to safety is a triumph of the human spirit that dares to hope against the odds and to cling to life.

The determination of the miners as they tied themselves together, as they huddled together in the dark attempting to keep each other warm, as they wrote letters to their loved ones just in case. They clung to hope, knowing that help was on the way, but not knowing when and if it would be on time.

We witnessed the best that Pennsylvania’s mining industry, rescuers and our government have to offer.

Was it serendipity, skill or a melding of both that led the Pennsylvania Bureau of Deep Mine Safety to pick the exact location to send a supply of air to the men and to calculate where to drill the shaft that would allow the miners to escape? Was it good fortune after all that a bit drilling through the earth broke early in the process?

At first it seemed a heartbreaking setback that kept rescuers from reaching the miners as quickly as they had initially hoped. In the end though, it might have save lives as the added time allowed water to be drained to a safer level.

Offers of help, equipment and expertise came from all over. The determination that showed clearly through the exhaustion of those who worked so hard above the surface to free the miners never wavered. These men and women knew their jobs; they knew what it would take and dedicated themselves to the single-minded task placed before them.

Through it all Gov. Mark Schweiker stayed in Somerset County, comforting and informing the miners’ families and providing straightforward, plainspoken explanations through many press briefings. The governor excelled as a leader, keeping hope alive.

In the coming weeks and months, many questions will need answered, especially why the maps of an old mine were so far wrong that the miners broke through when they should have been 200 feet away. There should be great concern about the accuracy of these maps and how a similar tragedy can be avoided.

We would hope that those charged with finding these answers will be equally devoted to this task as the rescuers were to their mission.