Trapped pair rewrite record books

The men have been trapped at the Beaconsfield mine since Anzac Day. Picture / Reuters

BEACONSFIELD - The confinement of Todd Russell and Brant Webb almost 1km underground entered its 14th day last night as miners and doctors rewrote textbooks in their efforts to bring the two miners to the surface alive and well.

As far as anybody can discover, this is now the longest anyone has survived at such a depth and in such conditions.

Searches of medical literature worldwide can find no information on what problems doctors may find when the pair are lowered through an escape tunnel, beyond a range of suspected conditions.

The complexity and unforseen problems confronting rescuers have also required unique and world-beating solutions.

And even with last night's major development in which miners managed to get a probe into the cavity where Mr Russell and Mr Webb are trapped, it was still not clear how long it would take their colleagues to build the final rescue tunnel through the crust of rubble and broken rock that forms the base on which the men have been trapped since Anzac Day.

Throughout the day, rescuers prepared the way for the final drive upwards through up to 2m of rock and rubble to the cavity - a process expected to take hours before building the final tunnel could begin.

The only certainty appeared to be that Mr Russell and Mr Webb would not, as had been hoped, be free to attend this afternoon's funeral of Larry Knight, 44, killed in the rockfall that trapped them.

The glow of hope for the two miners is the steady sound of work beneath them - even the gentle thud of the small explosives used to blast diamond-hard quartzite rock apart, with all the silent fears of triggering another rockfall.

"The vibrations aren't proving to be the problem at the moment," union secretary Bill Shorten said yesterday morning. "In fact, it's sort of a little bizarre, but the men are now happier to hear the noise, I'm told, because at least what the noise means is rescue and home."

Nor are rescuers allowing themselves to be distracted by news that some miners believe the pair could have been rescued earlier by an alternative route, and that one of their workmates had spoken to them and even dropped food down a hole above them when they were first found alive on Sunday, April 30.

Mine manager Matthew Gill yesterday confirmed that a miner had climbed forward to the area in which Mr Russell and Mr Todd are confined in a steel cage less than 2m square, but said the option of tunnelling through the route would have increased the danger to the trapped men.

The man apparently climbed over fallen rock to within 3m of the pair, dropped a glove into the cage where they are trapped, to make sure they could be reached, and took them food.

Mr Gill said: "Attempting to come through from the back of the telehander [the crushed machine to which the cage was attached] is seen as a very unsafe option, both for the rescuers and for Todd and Brant. This was confirmed with the Chief Inspector of Mines."

Mr Gill said the pair were prepared to be patient.

"Brant and Todd understand that it will still take some time to get them out. They wanted the work to be safe."

Mr Shorten said the union had been aware of the report and had discussed alternative routes with mine management, but had been told that drilling along the route the miner had taken on Sunday would have increased the risk.

"As it was explained to the union, it was a question of assessing the safety of the rescuers and the blokes to be rescued, and I think the authorities decided they would plump for safety over speed ...

"The miners are frustrated. They want to get in and rescue their mates but they've just got to do it safely."

Several underground rescue workers said the alternative route had since been sealed off. They agreed it was not safe.

"It wasn't shored up," one shift worker said. "Something could have popped out of the stope [the tunnel where the ore is extracted] and taken you out - then you'd have another one gone."

The mood at Beaconsfield has been sombre but determined. Officials had hoped the men would be freed on Saturday, but celebrations turned to frustration throughout Sunday as the solid rock barrier caused the rescue effort to inch along.

ROCK HARD

The rock that rescuers have to bore the final escape tunnel through to reach the trapped Tasmanian miners is metamorphosed siltstone, or quartz sandstone, which is much harder than concrete.

It began its life as sand on a seabed. Then it was covered over, deep below the surface, and subjected to incredible temperatures. To break it up, miners have drilled holes 1.2m deep in the rock and packed them with "penetrating cone fracture" explosives, triggered by an electrical fuse.