RESCUED!!

Monday, May. 08, 2006 - 12:42 p.m.

Trapped Tasmanian miners Brant Webb and Todd Russell have been freed.

Mine management at Beaconsfield announced shortly before noon Pacific Daylight Time (5 am Taz time) that the men had been freed."Both Brant and Todd are out of the tunnel and well," mine manager Matthew Gill said.

The two miners have been trapped underground since a rockfall on ANZAC Day (April 25) at the northern Tasmanian goldmine. On Monday night their local time, a small probe was drilled into the trapped miners' enclosure as rescuers closed to within one metre of them. It was sent to test the strength of the remaining rock before rescuers started cutting upwards in the last push of the rescue mission.

The vertical push was expected to be quicker than than the horizontal drilling because of less resistance on the rock. The men still have another wait before reaching the surface now that they have been rescued. They will be taken by 4WD up to the "crib room", a room the size of a cafeteria, which is 700 metres below the ground. There they will be given a full medical check and may also be able to see their families. The men have also asked for a shower.

The drive up the "decline", the mine's access tunnel to the elevator to the surface will take about another 35 minutes. Once there, the men will be taken in separate ambulances to Launceston General Hospital. Meanwhile, the funeral of Larry Knight who died in the rock fall, will be held on Tuesday in Launceston.

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Special thanks and sympathies to Channel 9 news in Australia who lost a member of their family, and to all of the news and image souces in Australia and New Zealand, whose work has been excerpted and featured here.

We are half a world away, but we've been with you.

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