WEBVTT - The Ultimate Story of Survival 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:03.280 We'd like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land 0:00:03.360 --> 0:00:06.360 on which this podcast was recorded, the Gaddigall people of 0:00:06.440 --> 0:00:12.600 the Urination. We pay our respects to Elder's past and present. Hi, 0:00:12.920 --> 0:00:16.239 welcome back to my head Game podcast. I'm a Middleton. 0:00:16.880 --> 0:00:19.840 We started head Game in September last year and I've 0:00:19.880 --> 0:00:23.560 since spoken to some incredible people. We've got a whole 0:00:23.600 --> 0:00:26.479 bunch of new listeners to Headgame and I wanted to 0:00:26.520 --> 0:00:30.520 share one of my favorite episodes, and actually the first 0:00:30.560 --> 0:00:35.240 episode we ever dropped. Todd Russell is one top bloke 0:00:35.720 --> 0:00:39.800 and he shared his unbelievable story of surviving in the 0:00:39.840 --> 0:00:47.040 Beaconsfield Mine with me. It's nine twenty six pm on 0:00:47.200 --> 0:00:51.320 Anzac Day two thousand and six when an earthquake hits 0:00:51.360 --> 0:00:57.360 the small town of Beaconsfield in North Tasmania. It only 0:00:57.400 --> 0:01:01.080 reaches a magnitude of two point three on the Richter scale, 0:01:01.480 --> 0:01:04.919 the kind of earthquake that you probably won't even feel, 0:01:05.880 --> 0:01:11.680 but for Todd Russell it changes his life forever. As 0:01:11.720 --> 0:01:18.240 the earthquake hits, he's working almost a kilometer underground. Fourteen 0:01:18.360 --> 0:01:21.800 miners manage to scramble to safety from the rock fall, 0:01:22.200 --> 0:01:25.880 but Todd and fellow miner Brandt's Web are trapped hundreds 0:01:25.920 --> 0:01:29.400 of meters under the surface in a cage the size 0:01:29.440 --> 0:01:33.199 of a dining table. After cutting their clothes and boots 0:01:33.240 --> 0:01:36.680 to free themselves from the rubble, they assess the situation. 0:01:37.920 --> 0:01:41.200 All they have is the small amount of water seeping 0:01:41.240 --> 0:01:46.480 through the rock overhead and one musely bar between them. 0:01:46.720 --> 0:01:49.960 They agree to wait twenty four hours to eat it. 0:01:50.520 --> 0:01:56.240 They end up waiting four days, but it would be 0:01:56.280 --> 0:02:02.960 another ten days before they're rescued. I'm at Middleton and 0:02:03.080 --> 0:02:08.840 this is head Game today, an extraordinary insight into what 0:02:08.880 --> 0:02:12.000 it's like to be trapped nearly a kilometer underground with 0:02:12.200 --> 0:02:15.760 nothing but a mate, a musically bar, and the hope 0:02:15.880 --> 0:02:24.240 to be reunited with loved ones. Todd, it's great to 0:02:24.240 --> 0:02:26.760 have you on my podcast head Game. So take me 0:02:26.800 --> 0:02:31.360 back to the earthquake. Now. The earthquake hits a two 0:02:31.400 --> 0:02:35.200 point three on the Richter scale. Nothing We don't even 0:02:35.240 --> 0:02:39.560 feel it on the surface. However, underground is a lot different. 0:02:40.200 --> 0:02:44.000 Talk me through that moment when that happened and when 0:02:44.000 --> 0:02:46.800 you realized you were in serious trouble. 0:02:47.040 --> 0:02:49.040 So the night before I was working in the nine 0:02:49.080 --> 0:02:51.200 to twenty five level. It's the same level as what 0:02:51.200 --> 0:02:53.640 we got stack in on the ANXECT day. And the 0:02:53.639 --> 0:02:56.720 ground was very noisy, popping and cracking, and I actually 0:02:56.720 --> 0:02:58.959 got hit with a rock the night before, which is 0:02:59.000 --> 0:03:01.720 probably the size of a football, and it actually knocked 0:03:01.720 --> 0:03:04.680 the helmet off my head. So the next night when 0:03:04.680 --> 0:03:05.919 we come in, like I said. 0:03:05.800 --> 0:03:08.040 I was back filling and that's just due to the stretch. 0:03:09.400 --> 0:03:12.360 Yep and it's spitting rocks and dropping rock. So the 0:03:12.400 --> 0:03:15.000 next night, on ANAZAC day, like I said, I was 0:03:15.040 --> 0:03:17.480 doing some backfilling and Brent and Larry and arrived at 0:03:17.480 --> 0:03:20.400 around about it's about seven twenty five, seven thirty pm 0:03:20.400 --> 0:03:24.320 at night, and I remember parking my underground loader back 0:03:24.320 --> 0:03:26.919 at the cross Cup. I got out, grabbed my water bottle, 0:03:27.840 --> 0:03:30.239 and I proceeded up to where the light vehicles parked, 0:03:30.400 --> 0:03:33.800 which was halfway between where Larry and the bogger was. 0:03:34.440 --> 0:03:36.120 I placed that on the back of the vehicle as 0:03:36.120 --> 0:03:39.760 I proceeded up to the telly. Later, Brent reached into 0:03:39.800 --> 0:03:43.240 his pocket and he pulled out a coin and he 0:03:43.320 --> 0:03:44.960 tossed the coin and he said to Larry, what do 0:03:45.040 --> 0:03:48.920 you want heads or tarts? That was the difference between 0:03:49.240 --> 0:03:52.760 Brant being in the basket with me and Larry Knight 0:03:52.800 --> 0:03:55.920 being where he was. So the toss of a coin. 0:03:56.000 --> 0:03:58.680 The toss of a coin cost Larry his life. But 0:03:58.800 --> 0:04:01.640 say Brent, just by the toss of that coint it 0:04:01.680 --> 0:04:06.040 was nine to twenty five PM is obviously the seismic event, 0:04:06.120 --> 0:04:10.680 which registered two point three on the rector'scale. And even 0:04:10.680 --> 0:04:13.600 though you say you don't feel them vibrations, I have 0:04:13.760 --> 0:04:16.800 been informed at stage that some of the vibrations were 0:04:17.080 --> 0:04:23.160 fifteen k's away. You know, for us it was instant bang, 0:04:23.279 --> 0:04:26.200 quicker than you can blink, quicker than split second. And 0:04:26.720 --> 0:04:30.680 you know, I remember laying there and I'm in a 0:04:30.720 --> 0:04:37.039 position that nobody's body should be put in. My left 0:04:37.080 --> 0:04:40.919 leg was completely numb from my hip to the tips 0:04:40.920 --> 0:04:44.240 of my toes was numb that took six days to recover. 0:04:45.000 --> 0:04:47.880 My left knee was punched through one hundred mile galve 0:04:47.960 --> 0:04:53.440 and I steel mesh. My entire body apart from my forearms, 0:04:53.440 --> 0:04:55.599 from my elbows down and my neck up was covered 0:04:55.640 --> 0:04:58.280 in rock. And when I say rock, some of them 0:04:58.680 --> 0:05:01.560 were as small as fifty pieces, some of as big 0:05:01.560 --> 0:05:07.880 as footballs. And it wasn't until then that I sort 0:05:07.920 --> 0:05:10.240 of started to get my bearings about myself, that I 0:05:10.360 --> 0:05:12.440 realized what had happened. Initially, I thought there'd been a 0:05:12.440 --> 0:05:15.240 malfunction on the machine where the tires might have blown 0:05:15.279 --> 0:05:18.560 out or something like that, because of the percussion inside 0:05:18.600 --> 0:05:20.760 the basket. It's a basket that's one point for me 0:05:20.880 --> 0:05:23.880 to square, so it's only nine hundred high, and there's 0:05:23.880 --> 0:05:27.159 no roof above us. It's open, so we're open to 0:05:27.200 --> 0:05:30.479 the elements. But you know, and we've now got this 0:05:30.560 --> 0:05:34.200 suspended of ars like a three dimensional jigsaw puzzle. We 0:05:34.279 --> 0:05:35.920 only need one piece of that rock to move, and 0:05:35.960 --> 0:05:37.719 as a fair chance that we're going to be crushed 0:05:37.760 --> 0:05:41.760 to death. But I remember laying there in the darkness, 0:05:41.760 --> 0:05:46.839 completely buried in so much pain, and I remember screaming 0:05:46.880 --> 0:05:49.320 to Larry and to Brand to get us out. You 0:05:49.520 --> 0:05:51.680 get us out, Get us out, and trying to get 0:05:51.680 --> 0:05:53.200 Brand to help me get the rock off me. And 0:05:54.760 --> 0:05:56.040 I was one of one hundred I think it was 0:05:56.040 --> 0:05:59.880 one hundred and sixteen kilo when I was working underground. 0:06:01.080 --> 0:06:03.640 I thought maybe I was physically strong enough to heave 0:06:03.760 --> 0:06:06.200 up and push the rock off me. But each time 0:06:06.279 --> 0:06:09.719 that I did that, it compacted tighter and tighter, and 0:06:10.000 --> 0:06:12.640 I was unable to take a smart's oxygen in. The 0:06:13.120 --> 0:06:15.719 pressure was actually starting to push the contents and my 0:06:15.760 --> 0:06:19.200 stomach up. I slowly suffocating, And you know, I remember 0:06:19.320 --> 0:06:24.520 laying there in excruciating pain, and I just prayed to 0:06:24.560 --> 0:06:26.240 the big fellow. I said, you've got to take me. 0:06:26.279 --> 0:06:29.400 I said, I can't handle this anymore so, and I 0:06:29.400 --> 0:06:34.120 remember laying there wanting it to end. And an image appeared, 0:06:35.040 --> 0:06:38.159 and that image was a picture of Caroline, myself and 0:06:38.200 --> 0:06:41.800 the three kids. Because only only a week or two 0:06:41.800 --> 0:06:44.760 weeks before Beaconsfield happening, we went and had a family 0:06:44.800 --> 0:06:49.400 portraits taken and one of the photos was our group photo. 0:06:49.839 --> 0:06:55.359 And once that image appeared, I knew I had to fight. 0:06:56.000 --> 0:07:00.000 I couldn't leave my family behind. And to see that 0:07:00.120 --> 0:07:04.000 image was the image that brought me back to fight. 0:07:04.640 --> 0:07:08.280 And then screamed to brand even though I'm now buried 0:07:08.640 --> 0:07:12.480 at around about read about the four hour mark, worried 0:07:12.480 --> 0:07:13.400 about a crush injury. 0:07:13.520 --> 0:07:15.400 Yeah, you've got the toxins, you've got, you've got the 0:07:15.440 --> 0:07:17.720 you've got the gravity that's against you, You've got the 0:07:17.800 --> 0:07:20.240 rocks that have on you. You've got a situation where 0:07:20.240 --> 0:07:22.520 it's pitch black, and you know how dangerous it is 0:07:22.560 --> 0:07:24.720 down there. You're thinking, I'm never getting out of the situation, 0:07:25.160 --> 0:07:28.040 and then you've got your power next year, that's unconscious. Yep, 0:07:28.200 --> 0:07:31.240 this picture comes up, but that's your reason. 0:07:31.520 --> 0:07:34.720 Yep, that's what that's what I now fight for. So 0:07:34.880 --> 0:07:38.520 you know, brand's now come come around. We've said about 0:07:38.880 --> 0:07:41.920 removing this rock that's covering my entire body, one rock 0:07:41.960 --> 0:07:44.760 at a time. Obviously, there was no room to put 0:07:44.760 --> 0:07:46.800 it outside the basket, so the bigger rocks had to 0:07:46.800 --> 0:07:49.400 be stacked inside the basket. The smaller rocks we found 0:07:49.400 --> 0:07:52.280 places for. So now we're in a basket that's one 0:07:52.320 --> 0:07:55.600 point four meters by now seven hundred, so we've taken 0:07:55.640 --> 0:07:59.160 half the space of the case stacked with rock. We 0:07:59.280 --> 0:08:01.440 had one guy on his background laying on his side, 0:08:01.640 --> 0:08:03.800 so each time we want to toss and turn, it 0:08:03.920 --> 0:08:05.559 was just like laying on a bit of razor blades. 0:08:05.960 --> 0:08:09.560 So after you know the concerns of a crash injury, 0:08:10.040 --> 0:08:13.320 four and a half hours later, I am now in 0:08:13.320 --> 0:08:17.960 a position where I'm pretty much totally incapacitated because my 0:08:18.040 --> 0:08:19.360 left leg's completely numb. 0:08:20.080 --> 0:08:22.240 So when did your power come to? When did he 0:08:22.320 --> 0:08:23.920 when did he sort of come to When did you 0:08:23.960 --> 0:08:26.320 realize there must have been a relief to find out 0:08:26.360 --> 0:08:29.400 that he was actually because looking knowing that he's there 0:08:29.440 --> 0:08:31.320 and he's not responding, you're probably thinking he's dead. 0:08:31.800 --> 0:08:36.239 The things I couldn't see because you're in darknes. 0:08:35.960 --> 0:08:37.959 And you know he's there and he's not responding. Are 0:08:37.960 --> 0:08:39.040 you thinking in your head he's dead? 0:08:39.160 --> 0:08:42.840 Yes, you know, I'm thinking I'm not getting a response. 0:08:42.480 --> 0:08:44.160 To it's pitch black as well. 0:08:44.000 --> 0:08:47.559 Because what people don't realize is when you work underground, 0:08:47.880 --> 0:08:51.840 there's a difference between dark and darkness. You're sitting in 0:08:51.880 --> 0:08:55.000 a room, you turn the lights off, bang, it's picked 0:08:55.040 --> 0:08:58.320 black dark. But over a period of thirty or forty seconds, 0:08:58.320 --> 0:09:00.400 your night light starts to come through your and you 0:09:00.400 --> 0:09:03.640 can actually see through the darkness. When you're underground, you 0:09:03.679 --> 0:09:05.880 cannot see two centimeters in front. 0:09:05.720 --> 0:09:18.000 Now, So how do you know that he's alive? That 0:09:18.000 --> 0:09:18.560 brunt's alive? 0:09:18.720 --> 0:09:22.600 So we're probably about I don't know, two, probably three, 0:09:22.800 --> 0:09:25.760 three and a half hours into it. So once I 0:09:25.880 --> 0:09:28.640 made contact with him, like he then yelled out to me, 0:09:28.760 --> 0:09:32.040 so he's obviously come around. He's now fearing for his 0:09:32.160 --> 0:09:34.440 life as well. So now he's yelling out to me. 0:09:34.520 --> 0:09:37.560 The next thing you know, bang right, we're on level 0:09:37.600 --> 0:09:39.880 playing field and he's We're talking to each other through 0:09:39.880 --> 0:09:42.240 the darkness, not knowing where each other were. Like we 0:09:42.320 --> 0:09:45.520 knew were within an area that we were, but I 0:09:45.559 --> 0:09:47.240 didn't know what position he was in. He didn't know 0:09:47.280 --> 0:09:48.160 what position I was in. 0:09:48.320 --> 0:09:50.079 Was it a relief or did it incite panic? 0:09:50.600 --> 0:09:56.120 If Brand hadn't come through, well then and that image 0:09:56.160 --> 0:09:59.720 of mine didn't come through, It's just fortunate that we 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:03.400 both pulled through, because there'll be nothing works and you 0:10:03.400 --> 0:10:08.160 can imagine learning a small area with a deceased body. Besides, 0:10:08.200 --> 0:10:11.600 you know, even now you're now dealing with that as 0:10:11.640 --> 0:10:13.240 well as whatever else is going on. 0:10:13.320 --> 0:10:18.240 So that mindset flip. You see that picture, you've now 0:10:18.280 --> 0:10:22.040 got Brant on side, what do you how does the 0:10:22.080 --> 0:10:24.680 communication happen and what do you start doing to make 0:10:24.880 --> 0:10:26.439 to make things better for you? 0:10:26.520 --> 0:10:31.280 So without using the words that we probably used underground 0:10:31.360 --> 0:10:33.560 throughout the course of the day, but it was a 0:10:33.559 --> 0:10:37.360 matter of you know, look, our main priority now is 0:10:37.640 --> 0:10:40.560 if your free brandt we need to free me. And 0:10:40.679 --> 0:10:44.240 because because of the rock and stuff that we're using, 0:10:44.240 --> 0:10:45.920 a lot of was quartz and that too, and quarts 0:10:46.000 --> 0:10:48.440 is very sharp, so you know, we've got a lot 0:10:48.440 --> 0:10:53.000 of cuts, bruises, and lacerations throughout the course. But you know, 0:10:53.120 --> 0:10:56.400 over the over that that period of the few hours 0:10:56.400 --> 0:10:59.559 to get the rock off me and then obviously we're 0:10:59.600 --> 0:11:02.480 going to the next six stays station there where you know, 0:11:03.000 --> 0:11:05.240 there's a lot of things that we were doing, a 0:11:05.240 --> 0:11:07.839 lot of things that we're talking about just to try 0:11:07.880 --> 0:11:08.880 and keep a morell up. 0:11:08.920 --> 0:11:12.200 So you mentioned morale in the military is everything. You know, 0:11:12.240 --> 0:11:15.280 we see, you know, humor in the face of adversity. 0:11:15.720 --> 0:11:20.440 You know, morale is ultimately, I would say one of 0:11:20.480 --> 0:11:22.960 the key survival methods of staying alive. 0:11:23.200 --> 0:11:23.360 Yep. 0:11:23.720 --> 0:11:26.959 Morale, whether that's hope, whether it's just humor in the 0:11:27.000 --> 0:11:30.160 face of adversity, just trying to keep morale high, because 0:11:31.280 --> 0:11:33.680 that's what's going to keep you alive, right yep. How 0:11:33.679 --> 0:11:37.079 did you keep morale to a level where there was hope? 0:11:37.480 --> 0:11:42.920 Well, we're going to two stages there, you know, like 0:11:44.600 --> 0:11:47.439 you have morele and you had that roller coaster ride 0:11:47.480 --> 0:11:50.280 as well. So throughout the course of the next six days, 0:11:50.320 --> 0:11:52.839 we had some highs and we had a lot of loads, 0:11:53.000 --> 0:11:55.760 but morele we talked about family, and that's what got 0:11:55.840 --> 0:11:58.560 us through. You know, both Brand and I were two 0:11:58.600 --> 0:12:03.280 completely different people. We'd never worked together before in seven years. 0:12:03.840 --> 0:12:05.760 We'd started at the mine on the same day under 0:12:05.800 --> 0:12:08.760 the same mining contractor, but never ever worked together to 0:12:08.800 --> 0:12:11.920 Anzac day two thousand and six. You know, it was 0:12:11.960 --> 0:12:17.400 interesting how everybody's got a different life story. And Brand's 0:12:17.440 --> 0:12:19.920 older than him and Rachel. They've got twins who are eighteen. 0:12:19.960 --> 0:12:22.600 At the time. I had a younger family, so I 0:12:22.640 --> 0:12:24.520 had three children. I had two boys and a girl. 0:12:24.559 --> 0:12:26.160 So I had Lam who was six at the time, 0:12:26.800 --> 0:12:29.320 Madison who was ten at the time, and my UTIs 0:12:29.440 --> 0:12:32.680 was twelve, so they were younger. You know. As part 0:12:32.720 --> 0:12:36.920 of our conversations it was about if anything happened to 0:12:37.160 --> 0:12:40.920 him or happened to me. We had messages, specific messages. 0:12:40.960 --> 0:12:42.840 We want to take them back to our family. So 0:12:43.000 --> 0:12:46.840 once we got our bearings, one I think it was 0:12:46.880 --> 0:12:50.240 my cap lamp had been smashed in the rock fall. 0:12:50.600 --> 0:12:54.360 Brance fortunately was knocked off his head, so after Scramsy 0:12:54.440 --> 0:12:57.040 threw the rocks, we found his cap lamp, so we 0:12:57.160 --> 0:13:01.160 had lights sparingly. So knew and we knew that the 0:13:01.200 --> 0:13:05.200 battery would only last a period day twelve or fourteen hours. 0:13:05.280 --> 0:13:07.800 Maybe you had to rush in your light. How did 0:13:07.840 --> 0:13:10.200 you food water? How did you rush in that? 0:13:10.400 --> 0:13:12.480 So the first six days, like I said, I had 0:13:12.520 --> 0:13:16.959 my water bottle in the basket, but still to this 0:13:17.160 --> 0:13:22.120 day I have no idea where that water bottle went to. 0:13:22.360 --> 0:13:28.480 So over the six days we started collecting groundwater in 0:13:28.520 --> 0:13:32.320 one helmet, so the dripping of the water, because Beaconsfield 0:13:32.400 --> 0:13:35.199 was a very wet mind but to get a mouthful 0:13:35.200 --> 0:13:37.560 of water it took somewhere for sinner, probably two hours 0:13:37.600 --> 0:13:40.760 just to get a mouthful of water. So we then decided, then, look, 0:13:40.840 --> 0:13:44.040 you know, we can't rely on this, so we started 0:13:44.080 --> 0:13:48.040 collecting our urine in another helmet, worst case scenario, not 0:13:48.080 --> 0:13:50.440 that we didn't do that. Luckily we didn't have to. 0:13:50.920 --> 0:13:54.319 But over the six days I said, you know, I said, 0:13:54.920 --> 0:13:57.240 we started collecting the water. We had no food apart 0:13:57.240 --> 0:14:01.360 from Musley bar Brandt was. He gave me half his mulybo, 0:14:01.960 --> 0:14:03.680 but I lost it. So I didn't eat for the 0:14:03.679 --> 0:14:07.120 first six days. We never slept for six days because 0:14:07.120 --> 0:14:09.320 we're too frightened it And like I said, over the 0:14:09.360 --> 0:14:12.240 six days before being found alive, there was so much happening, 0:14:13.200 --> 0:14:15.319 you know, because I had a watch on and I 0:14:15.400 --> 0:14:17.960 knew that the accident happened about nine to twenty five, 0:14:18.440 --> 0:14:20.000 So every time I got to nine to twenty five, 0:14:20.000 --> 0:14:22.120 I knew it was day shift. I knew it was 0:14:22.200 --> 0:14:27.160 night shift. And over the course of the next six days, 0:14:27.240 --> 0:14:29.080 like I said, there were so much happening as underground 0:14:29.080 --> 0:14:31.320 loaders working in the nine to twenty five level, bogging 0:14:31.320 --> 0:14:33.040 the dirt out, taking it back and put it in 0:14:33.120 --> 0:14:36.280 the stockpile, even to the extent where it started to 0:14:36.320 --> 0:14:38.040 lift the back of the machine that both Brand and 0:14:38.080 --> 0:14:40.480 I are on. You know, we've got all this rock 0:14:41.520 --> 0:14:44.160 suspended of us, like at three dimeters of jigsaw puzzle. 0:14:44.920 --> 0:14:47.280 And unbeknownst to both Brandon and myself at this time, 0:14:47.640 --> 0:14:49.760 the body of Larry Knight had been found two days in, 0:14:50.680 --> 0:14:53.440 so they didn't give both Brand myself any chance of survival. 0:14:54.000 --> 0:14:56.240 So what we're now concerned of is now they found 0:14:56.280 --> 0:14:57.680 the back of the machine, they're going to bring in 0:14:57.680 --> 0:15:00.400 a big loader, put a big chain on it, drag 0:15:00.440 --> 0:15:02.520 it out so they could give our bodies back to 0:15:03.080 --> 0:15:07.120 our loved ones so they could bear it. But it 0:15:07.160 --> 0:15:09.760 got those stage we could hear the underground drill rigs 0:15:09.840 --> 0:15:12.200 drilling away, and it just sounded like they were rahabilitating 0:15:12.240 --> 0:15:15.960 the area. But all of a sudden, there's dead silence, 0:15:15.960 --> 0:15:18.040 and we couldn't understand why. We could hear the machines 0:15:18.120 --> 0:15:20.240 driving off in the distance, you hear the light vehicles 0:15:20.240 --> 0:15:22.960 start up and drive off, and we knew that the 0:15:23.040 --> 0:15:24.760 day shift had come on and the night shift had 0:15:24.760 --> 0:15:27.360 gone off. But after a period of time, like I said, 0:15:27.400 --> 0:15:29.760 there was dead silence, and we didn't know whether someone 0:15:29.760 --> 0:15:33.200 else had been hurt or something from a potential rock fall. 0:15:34.120 --> 0:15:37.320 And then you know, we're laying there in the pitch 0:15:37.360 --> 0:15:39.600 black darkness, with which if you haven't been underground, you 0:15:39.600 --> 0:15:43.640 don't know what darkness is, and all of a sudden, 0:15:43.920 --> 0:15:49.320 there's just this almighty explosion. So what we realized later 0:15:49.560 --> 0:15:53.000 thirty meters from where we were laying, they started drilling 0:15:53.040 --> 0:15:53.800 and blasting. 0:15:54.240 --> 0:15:56.400 Did you try and communicate with them? 0:15:56.600 --> 0:15:58.720 So we tried to make communication. You know, we had 0:15:58.720 --> 0:16:02.360 some supplies and shift during some rock it's all bashing 0:16:02.360 --> 0:16:06.120 on the steel carriage trying to notify them that, and 0:16:06.160 --> 0:16:08.880 then all of a sudden the horn horn beeped, so 0:16:08.920 --> 0:16:11.680 we thought we'd been found alive. But it wasn't. It 0:16:11.720 --> 0:16:13.640 was just to notify people that were in the area 0:16:13.640 --> 0:16:16.920 that the machine was starting up and was driving off. 0:16:17.240 --> 0:16:19.360 In a survival situation like that, which I think is 0:16:19.400 --> 0:16:23.120 really important for the listeners, is any little glimmer of 0:16:23.160 --> 0:16:25.800 hope like that that horn blood did you just and 0:16:25.880 --> 0:16:29.200 you grubbed hold of that? Was that morale in itself? 0:16:29.280 --> 0:16:32.080 Yep? That lead to this because you know, and then 0:16:32.240 --> 0:16:34.440 then then you get the drilling and blasting and your back, 0:16:34.600 --> 0:16:36.480 your back then here at the floor level, Yeah, you know, 0:16:36.520 --> 0:16:39.360 you're on the downer. And like I said, we're in 0:16:39.360 --> 0:16:41.720 pitchfake dark, and so we've turned the light on the 0:16:41.880 --> 0:16:45.600 Spirit because we're using it sparently, And we just looked 0:16:45.640 --> 0:16:47.440 at each other and said, what the you know what? 0:16:47.800 --> 0:16:53.440 And I took a pen from my pocket and I started, 0:16:53.640 --> 0:16:55.920 I mean left leg, I started recording times and dates 0:16:57.120 --> 0:17:00.200 so that whatever they did on the outside killed us, 0:17:00.840 --> 0:17:03.400 that if they recovered our bodies, there was proof to 0:17:03.520 --> 0:17:05.320 prove that what they did killed us and we were 0:17:05.359 --> 0:17:07.720 alive at that particular point in time. And then on 0:17:07.840 --> 0:17:11.919 my right leg, this was probably the hardest thing that 0:17:12.000 --> 0:17:15.000 I endured while I was underground. So I sat there 0:17:15.040 --> 0:17:18.720 and I wrote a goodbye letter or goodbye note to 0:17:19.000 --> 0:17:23.720 every individual of the family Mum, Dad, Carolyn, Trent, Madison, Leam, brothers, sister, 0:17:23.840 --> 0:17:26.040 a whole lot just on my left leg, you know, 0:17:26.200 --> 0:17:29.119 just saying look, I can't I can't even remember what 0:17:29.160 --> 0:17:31.240 I wrote. But there was a there was a little 0:17:31.280 --> 0:17:34.800 note to each of them so that you know when 0:17:35.520 --> 0:17:38.119 our bodies were recovered, and that's what we did. And 0:17:38.160 --> 0:17:40.240 that was the first six days, and it wasn't until 0:17:40.240 --> 0:17:45.000 the Sunday afternoon. Is there was two gentlemen that came 0:17:45.280 --> 0:17:49.120 back down to the nine to twenty five level and 0:17:49.359 --> 0:17:52.800 as I said, unfortunately Larry lost his life and his 0:17:52.840 --> 0:17:57.200 body was recovered two days into the rescue, and that 0:17:57.320 --> 0:18:01.080 area then became a crime scene. So it was caughting 0:18:01.160 --> 0:18:05.479 off for investigation purposes. Processes in place, and now it's 0:18:05.520 --> 0:18:07.760 a crime scene. It had to be guarded by minds 0:18:07.760 --> 0:18:11.040 inspectors and stuff like that, so that you know, if 0:18:11.320 --> 0:18:14.320 our bodies were recovered and then they do the full investigation. 0:18:14.480 --> 0:18:18.400 And these two gentlemen, like I said, come back down 0:18:18.400 --> 0:18:21.320 to that area and they made a remark to the 0:18:21.960 --> 0:18:24.160 mind's inspector that maybe you need to have a coffee, 0:18:24.880 --> 0:18:29.199 and he sort of twigged on what was happening, and 0:18:29.240 --> 0:18:31.200 he said to the guys, he said, look, it'll take 0:18:31.200 --> 0:18:34.199 me about fifteen minutes to have a coffee. So no 0:18:34.320 --> 0:18:38.280 sooner did that mind's inspector go out of sight. They 0:18:38.480 --> 0:18:40.840 entered the nine to twenty five level at their own risk, 0:18:41.400 --> 0:18:43.080 and that's what they did. They entered their own risk 0:18:43.119 --> 0:18:47.439 because it was such a heavy, devastated. As I said earlier, 0:18:47.440 --> 0:18:50.760 Brandon and I were two completely different people, and apart 0:18:50.760 --> 0:18:52.480 from two things we had in common, we both married 0:18:52.520 --> 0:18:54.920 high school sweethearts, and we both knew how to see 0:18:54.960 --> 0:18:55.800 Kenny Rodgers again. 0:18:55.840 --> 0:18:59.760 But so it sounds like Kenny Rodger's going on done now. 0:18:59.600 --> 0:19:03.679 With But music in general is another healer and another 0:19:03.720 --> 0:19:09.000 motivator and jokes like bow yep, Brandt is a joker. 0:19:09.560 --> 0:19:13.000 And you know, throughout the course of the rescue, I 0:19:13.040 --> 0:19:16.119 had my strengths, he had his strength. So we relied 0:19:16.160 --> 0:19:19.119 on each other strengths to get us through. But that 0:19:19.240 --> 0:19:22.240 Sunday afternoon when we did each other yep pretty much. 0:19:22.280 --> 0:19:26.480 And then so that Sunday, when these two gentlemen entered 0:19:26.520 --> 0:19:29.240 the nine twenty five levels do that so called risk assessment. 0:19:29.480 --> 0:19:33.119 We were singing the gambler. Yeah, And then I remember 0:19:33.800 --> 0:19:36.480 I remember lying lying now on our back, singing the Gambler, 0:19:36.520 --> 0:19:39.720 and it didn't sound real good, but it was morale boosting. 0:19:39.720 --> 0:19:42.200 And then all of a sudden, I just hear this 0:19:42.359 --> 0:19:46.840 noise and I said the brand shut up. He said why. 0:19:46.920 --> 0:19:48.600 I said, no, no, that shut up, shut up, shut up. 0:19:49.480 --> 0:19:54.240 Then I held out, is there anyone out there? And 0:19:54.720 --> 0:20:08.320 this voice come back? Our hearts just sunk. After six 0:20:08.400 --> 0:20:12.639 days and during all this hardness and what we did 0:20:13.240 --> 0:20:18.000 to finally have communication to the outside world. You know, 0:20:19.880 --> 0:20:23.439 I've spoken to these two gentlemen and they told me 0:20:23.560 --> 0:20:27.800 how they both just collapsed to the ground when they 0:20:27.880 --> 0:20:32.560 heard our voices. And then after being found alized, that's 0:20:32.560 --> 0:20:35.919 when everything changed. Like the first six days felt like 0:20:36.359 --> 0:20:38.600 a twelve hour shift, it just went so fast in it. 0:20:39.200 --> 0:20:43.959 But after being founderalized, the next eight it felt like 0:20:44.000 --> 0:20:48.040 twelve months because they had to put implementations in place. 0:20:48.160 --> 0:20:51.639 Now they've got to dot their eyes, cross the t's 0:20:51.720 --> 0:20:55.680 and do everything correctly, because now they've got two guys 0:20:55.680 --> 0:20:59.040 that are alive, buried under all this rock, and what 0:20:59.080 --> 0:21:00.760 they could have done could have us. Then now I 0:21:00.800 --> 0:21:02.879 got put implementation in place on how they're going to 0:21:02.880 --> 0:21:06.639 extract us from where we are and bring us home safely. 0:21:07.119 --> 0:21:10.560 So you get this hope we've been found, we'll be 0:21:10.600 --> 0:21:14.119 out of even a couple of hours and you're still 0:21:14.160 --> 0:21:15.520 under there for eight days. 0:21:15.640 --> 0:21:19.200 You know, you can imagine for both Brand and myself 0:21:20.200 --> 0:21:23.960 the emotions now that we've been found alive. You know, 0:21:24.040 --> 0:21:27.840 here we are thinking the next time they press this button, 0:21:28.160 --> 0:21:31.760 they're going to kill us. And they had it was drilled, 0:21:31.800 --> 0:21:35.720 it was ready to charge and blast, but they found 0:21:35.800 --> 0:21:37.959 us beforehand. 0:21:37.520 --> 0:21:41.840 Because of Two's world as it went against protocol. 0:21:41.560 --> 0:21:43.680 Yep, and went into the nine to twenty five level 0:21:43.720 --> 0:21:45.800 to do that so called risk assessment for one last 0:21:45.840 --> 0:21:48.159 chance before they press that button again. It wasn't charged, 0:21:48.200 --> 0:21:50.240 but they were going to charge it and they're going 0:21:50.320 --> 0:21:55.480 to blast. So then once these two gentlemen left the 0:21:55.560 --> 0:21:58.080 nine to twenty five level, they went out and informed 0:21:58.920 --> 0:22:02.160 the Mind's rescue person who were there on site, the miners, 0:22:03.160 --> 0:22:05.680 the Mind inspector. They've gone them from underground to the 0:22:06.960 --> 0:22:10.600 office and next thing you know, mate, it's just gone 0:22:11.200 --> 0:22:15.200 wolf like wild fire. It's gone throughout the countries, throughout 0:22:15.280 --> 0:22:19.359 the world, everywhere that these boys have been now found alive. 0:22:19.480 --> 0:22:22.760 So for the guys that are looking after the rescue, 0:22:22.800 --> 0:22:26.680 the pressures now gone from here to here. So they 0:22:26.720 --> 0:22:28.960 had a control room up on the surface and I 0:22:28.960 --> 0:22:32.360