Article October 14, 2002 ISSUE

'MINERS ...a different breed'

A coal mine inspector recalls the Quecreek rescue in Pennsylvania.

By Dawn-Joy Thornton

"Miners are a different breed," says Joe O'Donnell, a federal inspector with the Mine Safety and Health Administration in Western Pennsylvania. "Workers who can handle a job no one else wants to do—and get satisfaction out of it. Sometimes we feel just a little pride among ourselves that we're able to do a job that only a select few can do."

O'Donnell was recalling some of the tensest moments during the spectacular rescue of nine coal miners trapped in Quecreek mine, southwestern Pennsylvania, in July. The mine was flooding, and hope for their survival was dimming by the hour.