17 miners rescued from 80 stories underground
LANSING, N.Y. — After an 10-hour effort, 17 workers, trapped 80 stories down in a salt mine's broken elevator were rescued Thursday, authorities said.
The workers at Cayuga Salt Mine, owned by Minnetonka, Minn.-based Cargill Inc., weren't in danger but were stuck in the shaft since 10:20 p.m. ET, Ithaca Fire Department officials said. The operation, on the shores of Cayuga Lake about 40 miles southwest of Syracuse, N.Y., supplies salt to de-ice roads that is used throughout the Northeast.
The men huddled together to keep warm and told each other stories to keep their spirits up, they told their rescuers as the last of them were returned to the surface around 8 a.m. They didn't go hungry, and they weren't in the dark.
"All 17 miners carry with them at all times their personal equipment, and that includes their own cap lamp for illumination," said Shawn Wilczynski, mine manager. "They also had their full compliment of food they'd bring down for their dinners. There's one individual, ... he brings a lunch bucket full of food every time."
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The miners, men who range in age from their 20s to 60s, got stuck while descending to the floor of Cargill's 2,300-foot-deep mine, the deepest salt mine in North America, company spokesman Mark Klein said.
Rescuers were able to communicate with the miners stuck in an elevator about 800 feet below the surface and managed to get them blankets, heat packs, and other supplies. Temperatures on the ground were down to 19 degrees early this morning.
A crane lowered a basket to pull the men toward the surface in batches of around four people.
Company officials don't know why the elevator malfunctioned, Wilczynski said. A shift on its way home had just used the lift about 5 minutes before.
"We will not go back to work until all our infrastructure is back in 100% safe operating conditions," Wilczynski said. "We will take whatever time is necessary."
Cargill has reported 21 problems with hoists — elevators and other vertical conveyances — at the Cayuga salt mine since the start of 2013, according to data from the federal Mine Health and Safety Administration. Most incidents involved electrical problems that interrupted power to the hoist.
A newer mine, American Rock Salt in Mount Morris, N.Y., and the only other active salt mine in New York, has reported only four hoist-related accidents during the same period, federal data show.
The mine has been in operation since 1921 as the Rock Salt Corp., according to the company's website. Cargill has operated it since 1970.
The most recent incident at Cayuga occurred five days ago. A hoist known as #3 lost power when an electrical breaker tripped and would not reset, according to federal records.
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It took 45 minutes to repair. No one was working underground in the mine at the time.
Elevators have gone down numerous times while miners were at work. Workers were forced to evacuate the mine five times in 2014 and five times in 2013 after one of the elevators failed.
By law, underground miners must have two separate means of egress, said Ellen Smith, owner and managing editor of Mine Safety and Health News, The independent publication is based in Pittsford, N.Y.
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If one way to leave is out of service, the mine must be evacuated, she said.
It was not clear Thursday which hoist at the Cayuga mine had stalled. Federal data noted past problems with hoists #1, #2 and #3, though #3 had by far the most reported problems.
No injuries were reported in connection with the incidents, and the reports have no mention of workers being stranded on a stalled elevator in the past three years.
In March 2010, a contract truck driver on the surface was killed at the mine when a 150-ton salt bin collapsed.
Contributing: Steve Orr, Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle. The Associated Press. Follow Simon Wheeler and Anthony Borrelli on Twitter: @IJPhotos and @PSBABorrelli
