Seventeen miners stuck 900 feet underground at the deepest salt mine in the Western Hemisphere were rescued Thursday morning, ending a frantic ordeal that officials said began about 10 hours earlier when an elevator got stuck on its way to the mine’s floor.
Mark Klein, a spokesman for Cargill Inc., said the last two miners were hoisted to the surface at Lansing, NY mine — located in the central part of the state — around 8:30 a.m.
Klein said the elevator — large enough to accommodate a forklift — got stuck around 10 p.m. Wednesday while descending to the floor of the 2,300-foot-deep mine at the start of the miners shift. Emergency workers were able to communicate via radio with the miners, who had blankets, heat packs and other supplies lowered to them.
Temperatures in Central New York dipped well below zero overnight and this morning.
The first four miners were hoisted to the surface in a basket around 7 a.m. at the Cayuga Salt Mine in Lansing, about 40 miles outside Syracuse. Four more miners were rescued in the same manner about 30 minutes later, and another seven were brought to the surface by 8:30 a.m., Klein said. The last two were rescued a few minutes later, he said.
The mine, which Klein said is the deepest salt mine in the Western Hemisphere, produces road salt that is shipped throughout the northeastern United States. The mine is located on the shore of Cayuga Lake and extends beneath its waters.
Mining at the Lansing site began 100 years ago. Minneapolis-based Cargill bought the mine in 1970 and today employs 200 workers at the operation, Klein said.
The company conducts evacuation drills annually, Klein said.
“While we hope to never make use of that practice, it’s helping us today,” he said.
Mining operations will be shut down for the rest of the week as company officials and federal government mine safety inspectors investigate what caused the elevator, one of several at the site, to malfunction, Klein said.
“We want to take a step back, check things out,” he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
With the help of God and the N.Y. state rescue workers hopefully the miners will be saved.
Two things. #1 Ground salt has many uses but should never be used for human consumption. #2 At that depth the ambient temperature would be more than surface temperature. Hope all works out well.
It is great that they got them all out safely.
I was an underground miner for 22 years and I can tell you that being trapped underground was a nightmare that I had while I worked there. Thank God they were able to get these guys out safely!!!
Temperatures below ground are always 65-68 degrees. At least, this is what I was taught when spelunking was a hobby of mine. Why the emphasis on temperatures in this story?.
Temperatures below ground are always 45-68 degrees. At least, this is what I was taught when spelunking was a hobby of mine. Why the emphasis on temperatures in this story?.
why would temps. be cooler? seems like the closer you get to the core of the earth the hotter the temps would get.
Yes it dose get hotter closer to the core but some times the ventilation that keeps fresh air were the miners are minding. They must have at least 6000 com at the last open cross cut. And it has to come from out side of the mine. So yes it can get cold. I’ve worked in the coal mine in Utah one of the mines I worked in was 12 miles to the work area 3200 foot cover.
That is 6000 cubic foot per minute.