Tas: Rescuers keep digging tunnel in bid to reach miners

AAP General News (Australia)
04-29-2006
Tas: Rescuers keep digging tunnel in bid to reach miners

BEACONSFIELD, Tasmania, April 29 AAP - Rescuers have so far tunnelled seven metres
in their bid to reach two men trapped in the Beaconsfield Gold Mine for more than three
days, the Tasmanian mine management says.

Workers went down the mine at 6am (AEST) today to start fresh 12-hour shift digging
a new tunnel they hope will reach the trapped workers, mine manager Matthew Gill said
today.

About 210 tonnes of broken rock already have been removed but it is expected to take
at least two more days to reach the location where the miners are thought to be.

The rate of progress means families may be waiting until Monday for news of whether
or not their loved ones are still alive.

Todd Russell and Brant Webb are trapped 925 metres underground after a seismic event
triggered rock falls on Tuesday night.

The body of their 44-year-old colleague Larry Knight, who also was trapped by the fall,
was retrieved on Thursday night.

"Work overnight focused in installing ground support into the newly exposed rock from
the first firing for the re-access drive," Mr Gill said in a statement today.

"The re-access drive was then bored and fired again at 10.30pm (AEST). Another firing
is anticipated this morning."

Mr Gill said safety was the top priority in rescue operations at the mine, where seismicity
was still an issue following Tuesday's rock falls.

"(Today), they will work on the next firing, removal of rock and the installation of
ground support," he said.

AAP ved/cdh/bwl

KEYWORD: MINE RESCUE

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