Advert

Rescue tunnel inches closer to Australian miners

Rescuers yesterday inched closer to two Australian miners, Brant Webb, 37, and Todd Russell, 34, trapped a kilometre underground for 11 days, but said moves to free the men had run into a new delay caused by vibrations from the giant drilling machine.

Rescuers had hoped to drill through 14 metres of hard rock by early yesterday to reach the two men with a one-metre wide hole, big enough for them to crawl through to freedom. But after completing more than two-thirds of the escape tunnel, the rescuers were forced to stop drilling because the huge underground boring machine was causing instability in the surrounding rocks, delaying the rescue bid.

"Our miners are going to go and get them out, there's no question in my mind now. They're determined to get them out," Australian Workers Union national secretary Bill Shorten told reporters yesterday.

Advert

0 Comments

Post comment

Comments are submitted under the express understanding and condition that the editor may, and is authorised to, disclose any/all of the above personal information to any person or entity requesting the information for the purposes of legal action on grounds that such person or entity is aggrieved by any comment so submitted.

At this time your comment will not be displayed immediately upon posting. Please allow some time for your comment to be moderated before it is displayed.

Your User Profile is incomplete.
Please click here to complete your profile before posting comments.

Advert
Advert