Final push to rescue trapped Australian miners

SYDNEY - Rescuers began digging a small rescue tunnel yesterday to free two Australian miners trapped a kilometre underground for eight days, using a small digital camera to help direct the excavation.

Rescuers used a special tunnelling machine, which grinds through rock and is much safer than blasting or drilling, to dig the final 12 metres to reach the miners. It will take 48 hours to reach the men going through rock as hard as concrete.

The men, trapped after a cave-in in a gold mine in the small mining town of Beaconsfield on the southern island state of Tasmania, were found on Sunday huddled in a small metal cage.

Food and fresh water has been delivered to the men through a small 100mm plastic pipe, along with fresh clothes, a digital camera, magazines and an iPod player.

"They are able to point the camera around the various parts of their fairly cramped environment," Australian Workers Union national secretary Bill Shorten told reporters.

"That helps actually guide the rescuers to the best spot to rescue the blokes, so the blokes are helping to rescue themselves," said Shorten.

A third miner was killed when a small earthquake sent down tonnes of rock. Despite their grief, Larry Knight's family has delayed his funeral until Brant Webb and Todd Russell are rescued and can say farewell to their mining mate.

"We believe the right thing to do is to wait until they rescue the two boys still down there," one of Knight's relatives told local media yesterday.

The bond between miners is forged deep underground, where death is a regular companion and injuries just part of life.

Mining is one of the world's most dangerous jobs. Worldwide some 10,000 miners die every year.

In Australia, 11 miners have been killed in accidents in the past year. The Minerals Council of Australia has recorded 229 deaths from 1990 to 2000.

When the miners' death bell rings, it is heard across the Australian mining community as many miners still come from mining families, where son follows father, grandfather and great-grandfather underground.

Prime Minister John Howard said  yesterday all Australians were praying for the rescue of the two trapped miners.

"It was a wonderful act of mateship... in postponing his funeral so that his mates could be there," Howard said. "I think that's a wonderful expression of the Australian spirit."

Beaconsfield, like many Australian mining towns, is a tight knit community, accustomed to the hardship of life underground. They have dug for gold in Beaconsfield since 1878.

But when the siren wails announcing a mine accident the whole town's heart sinks, wondering who has been hurt or worse.

Miners are a hearty breed and don't freely show their emotions, but each night the doors of the small church in Beaconsfield are left open and each night hardened miners enter to ask God to save the two trapped miners.

Others bury their fear and return underground around the clock to dig slowly through rock to reach Webb and Russell.

"These guys are pretty scared. That could have been them," said Paul Howes from the Australian Workers Union

"They're still going down and they're burying their emotions and their fears about going back into the mine to get down there and work as quickly as possible," Howes said.

"I think you'll probably see afer this is finished not many of them wanting to go down ever again."

- REUTERS