Trapped 240 feet underground in a flooded mine for three days, one thought kept creeping back into Blaine Mayhugh\u2019s mind: He didn\u2019t kiss his wife goodbye before he left for work.
\nAs more than 150 rescue workers and neighbors above ground struggled to reach them, he and eight other coal miners fought to keep their heads above the cold water, huddled together for warmth, and hoped.
\n\u201cIt was the only day in my life I never kissed my wife before I went to work. It had to be the day,\u201d he said Sunday, breaking down into sobs as he stood with his arms around his wife, Leslie.
\nIn a rescue that transfixed the nation, all nine miners were pulled safely from the Quecreek Mine in rural western Pennsylvania after water from an abandoned mine flooded the shaft where they were working.
\nA desperate rescue operation with tons of heavy equipment and 18 medical helicopters finally paid off when rescuers reached the miners Sunday morning and pulled them up a narrow shaft, one by one, in a yellow cylindrical capsule.
\n\u201cWhat took you guys so long?\u201d the miners said when they spoke to rescuers for the first time. They reportedly asked for chewing tobacco and beer \u2014 which doctors wouldn\u2019t allow. And they were ravenously hungry.
\nAt the rescue site, workers cheered and danced, and the Sipesville Fire Hall, where the families of the men had been gathering, burst into celebration at the news they were all alive.
\nAs each was slowly raised, one by one, through the narrow hole in a 7-foot-tall yellow cage, at least two gave a thumbs up. Their coal-covered faces managed smiles. Rescuers greeted them with applause and shouted out nicknames.
\nBut underground, Mayhugh described a nightmarish scene: The men tied themselves together so they would \u201clive or die as a group.\u201d On Thursday, when the water in the shaft was rising, he asked his boss for a pen.
\n\u201cI said, \u2019I want to write my wife and kids to tell them I love them,\u201d\u2019 said Mayhugh, choking back tears.
\n\u201cEverybody had strong moments,\u201d he said. \u201cAt any certain time maybe one guy got down, and then the rest pulled together and then that guy would get back up and maybe somebody else would feel a little weaker. But it was a team effort. That\u2019s the only way it could\u2019ve been.\u201d
\nAll nine were immediately taken to local hospitals; six were released on Sunday. Three remained hospitalized, including Randy Fogle, who has a history of heart problems and complained of chest pains while in the mine.
\nOne of the miners was briefly in a decompression chamber after experiencing early symptoms of the bends, an excruciating condition caused by sudden changes in pressure, said Dr. Russell Dumire, a trauma surgeon at Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center, where six of the men were taken.
\nAlso under observation was Mayhugh\u2019s father-in-law, Thomas Foy, 51.
\nFoy told family members \u201che\u2019ll never go underground again,\u201d said his daughter, Tonya Butler, 26.
\nThough they were covered in coal dust and their heavy-duty clothes were soaked through, the miners surprised medical personnel who had prepared to treat them for symptoms of hypothermia or the bends. Decompression chambers, ambulances and helicopters were at the scene 55 miles southeast of Pittsburgh \u2014 the same rural area where the hijacked Flight 93 crashed on Sept. 11.
\nIn a small, close-knit community still fresh from that tragedy, the happy ending brought smiles across town and crowds to the site. Restaurant and gas station signs trumpeted \u201cNine Alive!\u201d and \u201cPrayers Answered.\u201d
\nThe miners became trapped about 9 p.m. Wednesday, when they inadvertently broke into an abandoned, water-filled mine that maps showed to be 300 feet away.
\nMayhugh said a 4-foot wall of water \u2014 as many as 60 million gallons \u2014 came crashing through the breached wall.
\n\u201cWe tried to outrun it, but it was too fast,\u201d he said.
\nBut they were able to warn a second crew, which escaped.
\n\u201cThey are the heroes. If not for them, there\u2019d be dead bodies,\u201d said mine worker Doug Custer, among the group who escaped.
\nThe trapped miners spent roughly five hours in the water, at one point attempting to break through another wall to try to bring the water level down. Instead, the level rose, forcing them to swim in their heavy miners\u2019 clothes, Mayhugh said.
\nThe miners also huddled around a pipe funneling down warm air.
\nDrilling a rescue shaft to the men began more than 20 hours after the accident when a drill rig arrived from West Virginia. Drilling was halted early Friday morning because a 1,500-pound drill bit broke after hitting hard rock about 100 feet down, delaying the effort by 18 hours.
\nA second rescue shaft was started, and it wasn\u2019t until Saturday that measurable progress was being made on both shafts.
\nDavid Hess, secretary of the state Department of Environmental Protection, promised a joint federal-state investigation to help determine why underground maps apparently showed the abandoned Saxman Mine some 300 feet away from where the miners were working.
\n\u201cThere was a lot of roller-coaster, but I was upbeat the whole time,\u201d said Randy Popernack, a cousin of Mark Popernack, one of the trapped men. He was at home calling distant relatives with the good news.
\n\u201cI am mining people,\u201d he said. \u201cNever give up. Never give up.\u201d
\n\u2014\u2014\u2014
\nOn the Net:
\nState mine bureau: http:\/\/www.dep.state.pa.us\/dep\/deputate\/minres\/dms\/dms.htm
\nFederal mine safety: http:\/\/www.msha.gov\/welcome.htm<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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