"There Out"

Well after what has been such a long time of watching and praying for good news - David rang me this morning at around 5.45 to say "quick go and turn the television on the Minors are neally out".

Well I jumped out of bed like a flash - I was up until late Sunday night when they first thought they would be reached now what seems like forever for us let alone what these to guys have gone through around 5.59am this morning Todd Russell and Brant Webb walked out of the Beaconsfield mine, 14 days underground the sound of the siren put a lump in my throat that's for sure.

Here see these brave to guys arriving at the Hospital.

I started crying when I saw that lift reach ground level it was so emotional. To see the families rush to these men was just fantastic. All around Australia and also in across the world people have been watching and praying that these two guys would be rescued.

Royce and Chelsea have been asking everyday as soon as I picked them up from school  "Are they out yet Mum" so to see the smiles on their faces this morning watching the TV was just great, thye did not want to go to school.

I have been watching the TV all morning and I was thinking that the last time I experienced something like this was Septemeber 11 - I know it was a totally different situation but I just have not turned the television off.

To see all those mates and co workers form the Guard of Honour for the Ambulance's to go through was unreal and to all those who were involved in such a marathon effort to get these guys out and not only their determination but there courage is just fabulous. I am sure the people of Australia will rembember this that's for sure.

Of course today our hearts also go out to the family of Larry Knight who lost his life in the rockfall on Anzac Day 2 weeks ago.  Todd and Brandt will be two of many work mates to pay their respects today to the Knight family.

HERE are some details of THESE BRAVE GUYS.......

For seven days the two strapping Tasmanian miners have been pinned together in a steel cage about two metres long, 1.2 metres wide and 1.5 metres high - under tonnes of rock almost a kilometre beneath the surface.

Inside their prison, the temperature is a constant 35 degrees and humid. Nevertheless, they complain of being cold and damp. There is enough air - sucked down into the mine by giant fans - to ease their lungs and moisture around them, perhaps enough to ease a thirst.

There had been stories of the pair licking dirty water dripping down the mine walls, cracking jokes, and asking for the football scores as they wait for their rescuers to break through.

But last night the rescue team passed food and water to the miners through a 100-millimetre PVC pipe. The rescuers were only 15 metres from Mr Russell, 34, and Mr Webb, 37 - but still possibly two days away as they bored through the rocks separating them.

The rescue operation is difficult and dangerous. Teams of between four and six have been working round the clock in 12-hour shifts. To get to the rescue site they have to take a lift 375 metres down, and then a drive along a four-kilometre road that corkscrews steadily down to the 925-metre level. Last night they were expected to resume digging a wider tunnel through possibly unstable rock, culminating in a delicate drilling operation when they finally get close to Mr Webb and Mr Russell.

But, fearful of further rock falls, they have abandoned blast drilling and instead intended to break their way through the rock using a boring machine with a one-metre diameter circular head. The borer was being assembled and taken underground last night.

At first rescuers tried using a remote-controlled earthmover to shift the 120-tonne rock fall that trapped Mr Webb, Mr Russell and another miner, Larry Knight. They halted after they found Mr Knight's body.

Mr Knight had been driving a machine like a cherry picker, called a telehandler, last Tuesday when the earth tremor that caused the collapse struck.

Mr Russell and Mr Webb were working in a steel cage at the front end of the telehandler on a hydraulic arm. The cage is believed to have fallen and been pinned to the floor by a huge rock.

At first there was no evidence that they had survived, and the discovery of Mr Knight's body on Wednesday hardened fears that all three were dead.

It was then that Beaconsfield Gold engineers switched tactics and started drilling through 36 metres of solid rock from the decline into the shaft, bypassing the rock fall.

Despite the possibility that more rock might be dislodged, the rescuers then decided to blast their way into the 925-metre level tunnel. Long rock bolts were drilled into the rock to hold the tunnel's shape, and strapping was webbed between them to hold against the blasts.

After four days they excavated more than 800 tonnes of the quartzite rock, bringing them within 17 metres of the tunnel where Mr Webb and Mr Russell were trapped. Then the big guns were brought in: a super-hard drill, probably diamond-tipped, probed its way through the wall, and on Sunday it reached its destination, spinning into open air near the miners. A voice communication cord was sent down, and at 5.45pm contact was made. Mr Gill said rescuers were consulting Mr Russell and Mr Webb as they slowly bored through, seeking their advice. "We are asking, did they hear us. What are the conditions like? Did they hear rocks falling?"

What a great day it has been...............