One of the ‘Quecreek 9′ recounts historic rescue 20 years later

SOMERSET COUNTY, Pa. — One of the nine miners trapped underground in a flooded mine in Somerset County — known as the “Quecreek 9″ — says he turned to his faith to get him through.

Twenty years ago today, at this hour, the miners had already been trapped thousands of feet underground for almost 48 hours.

Their rescue would still be more than 24 hours away.

Channel 11′s Amy Hudak sat down with John Unger, the fourth miner rescued.

He said there’s only one explanation as to why all nine made it out alive.

“That shouldn’t have happened,” Unger said. “We should have been dead. We beat every odd there was.”

It wasn’t supposed to be a storybook ending.

There weren’t supposed to be cheers, tears of happiness, a book or movie deal. Nine men shouldn’t have come back up above ground.

“The whole mine knows we probably should have met our fate there,” said Unger.

Five hours after the shift change on Wednesday, Unger was eating lunch when his crew accidentally dug into a poorly labeled secondary mine, flooding their space. Time was ticking.

“I can still hear it just like yesterday,” he said. “That roar was tremendous. The water was so fast coming out of there it was like being in a flood.”

One of the nine men, Mark Popernack, was separated by water. The eight other miners used heavy machinery to rescue him in a bucket. The men stayed together as the clock ticked... Thursday, Friday, Saturday.

That’s when the men processed their fate and started writing goodbye letters to their families. They were an experienced group, and they knew time was not on their side.

“I was sitting on a pile of coal and I just prayed to God,” Unger said. “I didn’t ask for the strength to live. I asked for the strength to live or die. I hated water and I was hoping he wouldn’t drown me.”

Unger said there was no plan. There was no training for flooding. They were winging it.

240 feet below, the Quecreek Mine was 58 degrees.

The men had been soaking wet in long johns for three days, with nothing to eat but a bite each of a corned-beef sandwich and a Pepsi that floated back to them in a lunch pail. An air hole drilled from outside was their only connection to the world above.

70 hours from the next shift change, a microphone dropped down.

“You hear this guy yelling, ‘Hello hello hello,’” Unger recalled. “He said, ‘I have a question to ask you. How many alive?’ I said all nine are alive, all nine of us. He said, ‘You’re all alive.’ I said, ‘We’re all standing right here.’ He started to cry.”

Unger says the men didn’t even know crews broke through to them.

As the nine stood together at the opening, a rescue cage dropped down. This was their lifeline.

“He said, ‘There are 500 people who want to see you,’” Unger said. “(I) said, ‘There aren’t 500 people who really care about us that much.’ He goes, ‘You’re in for the biggest shock of your life.’”

Unger was miner number four out. He calls the ride in that 28-inch diameter cage the best six minutes of his life.

“It was a miracle. That’s the only way to describe it, divine intervention,” he said. “God was in control from the start to the finish. We brought the best people here to do the job.”

Mark Popernack was the last man out.  After his fellow miners rescued him, he wanted to see them out first.

“When the heat was on, we were there for each other,” Unger said. “That’s what makes what we are so great — who we are and what we do for each other. It’s priceless.”

It’s a story about the will to live, the best of humankind, and nine humble, ordinary family men who became the faces of a miracle Somerset County and the nation so badly needed.

“God was a big part of it,” Unger said. “The main factor from the start to the finish. If you don’t believe that, I feel bad for you. I really do. That was a true miracle.”

Unger said that what he’s most grateful for after this second chance at life is his grandkids. He said, “I thought I might not ever get to meet them.”

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