Quecreek Mine Rescue

On July twenty-fourth, two thousand two, nine coal miners broke through into a flooded abandoned mine shaft at the Quecreek Mine in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. Water rushed in, trapping all nine men more than two hundred feet underground. For seventy-seven hours, the nation watched as drillers worked around the clock to bore a rescue shaft wide enough to bring the men out one by one.

Rescuers pumped compressed air down a narrow borehole to hold the water back from the trapped men. All nine were pulled to the surface alive. The rescue became one of the most-watched live news events of the early two thousands and prompted investigations and reforms focused on better mapping of old abandoned workings.