Qualla: Quecreek Mine Rescue https://qualla.com/quecreek-mine-rescue en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:15 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/d/p/p/u/quecreek-mine-rescue-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Quecreek Mine Rescue https://qualla.com/quecreek-mine-rescue Quecreek Mine Rescue: Introduction https://qualla.com/quecreek-mine-rescue/ Photo credit Tyrol5, CC BY-SA 3.0. They roped themselves together to die as a family. Nine coal miners, soaked and shivering in four-foot-high tunnels 240 feet below the fields of Dormel Farm in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, watched the water rise and wrote goodbye notes to their wives. It was July 25, 2002, and miner Randy Fogle estimated they had about an hour left to live. Then the water stopped rising. And above them, on the surface, a drill was boring through rock toward the exact spot where they huddled, guided by GPS coordinates and desperation. The Quecreek Mine rescue became one of the most dramatic underground rescues in American history -- 77 hours of improvisation, engineering, and sheer determination that ended with nine men alive.

Read more: Quecreek Mine Rescue on Qualla

Image: Tyrol5 | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/p/p/u/quecreek-mine-rescue-wp/dppu-quecreek-mine-rescue-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Quecreek Mine Rescue: Nine Taps on a Pipe https://qualla.com/quecreek-mine-rescue/ Photo credit Tyrol5, CC BY-SA 3.0. At approximately 9 PM on Wednesday, July 24, 2002, eighteen miners working the evening shift at the Quecreek Mine in Lincoln Township accidentally broke through into the abandoned Harrison No. 2 mine. The old mine was flooded, and millions of gallons of water began pouring into t...

Read more: Quecreek Mine Rescue on Qualla

Image: Tyrol5 | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/p/p/u/quecreek-mine-rescue-wp/dppu-quecreek-mine-rescue-nine-taps-on-a-pipe.mp3 0:06 2 full Quecreek Mine Rescue: An Untested Gamble https://qualla.com/quecreek-mine-rescue/ Photo credit Tyrol5, CC BY-SA 3.0. The air hole confirmed the miners were alive, but the water was still rising. Mine ventilation expert John Urosek of the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration proposed something that had never been attempted in the United States: seal the borehole and pump compressed air dow...

Read more: Quecreek Mine Rescue on Qualla

Image: Tyrol5 | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/p/p/u/quecreek-mine-rescue-wp/dppu-quecreek-mine-rescue-an-untested-gamble.mp3 0:06 3 full Quecreek Mine Rescue: The Drill Bit Breaks https://qualla.com/quecreek-mine-rescue/ Photo credit Tyrol5, CC BY-SA 3.0. A massive drill capable of boring a 30-inch rescue shaft had arrived from West Virginia with a police escort. Drilling began Thursday evening at 6:45 PM, but at 1:12 AM Friday the bit broke, and part of it lodged deep in the hole. Normally, fabricating a retrieval tool for such a...

Read more: Quecreek Mine Rescue on Qualla

Image: Tyrol5 | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/p/p/u/quecreek-mine-rescue-wp/dppu-quecreek-mine-rescue-the-drill-bit-breaks.mp3 0:06 4 full Quecreek Mine Rescue: A Corned Beef Sandwich and Two Mountain Dews https://qualla.com/quecreek-mine-rescue/ Photo credit Tyrol5, CC BY-SA 3.0. Underground, survival was measured in small mercies. Dennis Hall's lunch pail floated past and was retrieved -- inside, a still-dry corned beef sandwich his wife had made him and a bottle of Pepsi. Thomas Foy found two Mountain Dews on one of the mining machines. The men shared e...

Read more: Quecreek Mine Rescue on Qualla

Image: Tyrol5 | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/p/p/u/quecreek-mine-rescue-wp/dppu-quecreek-mine-rescue-a-corned-beef-sandwich-and-two-mountain-dews.mp3 0:06 5 full Quecreek Mine Rescue: All Nine Alive https://qualla.com/quecreek-mine-rescue/ Photo credit Tyrol5, CC BY-SA 3.0. A communication device with a child's glow stick attached was lowered through the air pipe. All nine men confirmed they were alive. At 12:30 AM on Sunday, July 28, an eight-and-a-half-foot steel mesh rescue capsule descended into the mine. Foreman Randy Fogle, suffering chest pai...

Read more: Quecreek Mine Rescue on Qualla

Image: Tyrol5 | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/p/p/u/quecreek-mine-rescue-wp/dppu-quecreek-mine-rescue-all-nine-alive.mp3 0:06 6 full