Celebration marks 15th anniversary of Quecreek Mine rescue

SOMERSET COUNTY, Pa. — Friday marks the 15th anniversary of the rescue of nine miners who were trapped underground for 77 hours in the Quecreek Mine.

A community festival will be held Saturday to commemorate the occasion. It will include public tours of the rescue site.

The miners became trapped 200 feet underground when the mine flooded on the night of July 24, 2002, after they broke through an uncharted mine shaft.

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Rescue efforts, which involved drilling a hole down to the area where the miners were trapped, lasted until the early morning of July 28. At one point, a drill bit broke.

Once crews were able to break through to where the miners were, a phone was lowered down the shaft. Soon after, former Pennsylvania Gov. Mark Schweiker declared, “All nine are alive.”

After more than three days underground, the miners were lifted one by one to the surface using a metal capsule.

Schweiker remembers he was told he had to leave the rescue and head back to Harrisburg, but he knew he just couldn't leave.

"You just saw the families overwhelmed and we just don't know what the future will hold," he said. "When I came back out of those doors, it was like, 'I'm not going anywhere."

Officials from the state, the federal government and Black Wolf Coal worked together to get the miners out. Trapped miner Thomas Foy said, "(It's) probably the best feeling of your life right there, knowing you made it."

Events will continue into the weekend at the mine rescue site, with site tours and the celebration all day Saturday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Cox Media Group