Trapped miners vowed to stay together

Huddled together for three days in the damp, cold darkness 240 feet below ground, the nine US miners pulled to safety from a flooded mineshaft revealed today how they had tied themselves together so they would "live or die" as a group.

Doctors said the men were in remarkably good health following the dramatic rescue from the Quecreek mine in Pennsylvania early yesterday.

Things had got so desperate they had scrawled last messages to family members as they grouped together to keep warm in the water-filled tunnel.

Survivor Blaine Mayhugh said one thought ran through his mind as he finally emerged after the 77- hour ordeal: "Please, just get me up out of here."

The father of two said: "God and my wife and my kids, they were the only things that got me through."

He said when he went to work on Wednesday it had been the first time he had forgotten to kiss his wife goodbye.

"It had to be that day," he told reporters at an emotional news conference with his wife Leslie beside him.

Mr Mayhugh, whose father-inlaw Thomas Foy was trapped with him, added that teamwork had kept the group alive.

"Maybe one guy got down and then the rest pulled together, and then that guy would get back up. Then someone else would get a little weaker and we'd do it again."

From the outset the men agreed to remain as a team and tied themselves together so they would be found as a group if they drowned.

Their ordeal came to an end on Saturday night when a drilling crew punched a hole into the air pocket where the men had been stranded since Thursday morning.

The miners had accidentally drilled into an abandoned flooded mine, releasing 50 million gallons of water into their own shaft and triggering a cavein. Rescuers said the miners joked "what took you guys so long?" when the drill for an escape shaft finally broke through.

The men were then winched one by one to the surface in a metal cage where they were greeted by cheers from the crowd of workers who had toiled round the clock to bring them to safety.

The final miner, Mark Popernack, 41, was wet, exhausted and had his face blackened with coal dust, but managed to give his rescuers a thumbs-up as he emerged. They were then taken for an emotional reunion with family members at a local hospital. Trauma surgeon Russell Dumire of Memorial Medical Centre in Johnstown said: "There were tears of joy flowing everywhere at the time, both from the miners and the family."

Medics had prepared to treat them for symptoms of hypothermia or the bends, caused by sudden changes in pressure. Decompression chambers, ambulances and 18 helicopters were at the scene 55 miles south-east of Pittsburgh.

But Dr Dumire said: "If you were to see any of these guys on the street right now, you would not know they were trapped in a cavern full of water for three days. They're all quite calm, cool and collected, and they all want to get on with things."

Before Saturday night, rescue workers last heard from the miners at noon on Thursday, when they tapped on an air pipe.

Noise and vibration caused by the heavy rescue equipment drowned out the later attempts at communication from the men.

Rescue efforts were twice delayed for up to nine hours when the giant drill used to dig the escape shaft broke down. Officials had warned yesterday that the men might be dead.

The drama had transfixed the US, with millions watching their television sets into the early hours of yesterday to see the men returned to safety.

President George W Bush said he was "thrilled" that the men had been rescued and reunited with their families.

John Weir, a spokesman for Black Wolf Coal Company, the mine's owner, said: "This is a miracle."