Beaconsfield miners struggling 10 years after disaster

TEN years after the two Beaconsfield miners walked free, they still struggle to escape their two weeks underground.

THE two survivors of the Beaconsfield mine disaster escaped untimely deaths but they haven’t been able to escape the haunting memories of the two weeks they spent trapped underground in a tiny steel cage.

It’s been 10 years since a magnitude 2.2 earthquake struck while gold miners Brant Webb and Todd Russell were attaching wire mesh to the side of a tunnel 925m below ground.

The pair had been working in a tiny workbasket attached to a telehandler being operated by Larry Knight, then 44, who was killed when the earthquake caused the mine to collapse just before 9.30pm on ANZAC Day, 2006.

Webb and Russell spent the next two weeks trapped in a confined space underground as Australia watched with bated breath until they were finally rescued and hailed ‘miracle survivors’.

Tasmanian miners Todd Russell (left) and Brant Webb wave as they emerge from the mine lift having been rescued after being trapped underground at Beaconsfield gold mine for 14 days. Picture: AFP

One decade on, their story still captivates many with the mine museum drawing up to 40,000 visitors to the town since the goldmine closed in 2012.

News Corp Australia Network reported that the affable Webb - who now tells his survival story to tour groups to the town, consults vineyards and makes home deliveries for the local bottle shop - is now close to broke, working four jobs to pay his mortgage and still battling stress and anxiety.

His boss at Crowden’s outboard motor workshop, Greg Crowden, told the News Corp Australia Network Webb suffers flashbacks and anxiety, as well as unresolved grief over the loss of his good mate, Larry Knight.

Crowden said Webb had struggled the most.

“He’s done some rehab to get back into work but he’s still got these issues, it’s like he’s had to start again,” he told News Corp Network Australia.

The bottle shop where Brant Webb now works. Picture: Gary Ramage

Russell is captain of the local fire brigade and is an explosives consultant to mining companies. He bought 14 hectares with $185,000 of his million-dollar deal — which was controversially taxed at the ATO’s second job rate — and built a sprawling home for his family.

But the pair’s tale of miraculous survival will be forever marred by the loss of their mate and colleague, Knight.

Knight’s body was discovered two days after the mine collapse and many assumed Webb and Russell had also perished.

Todd Russell during a visit to his dad’s home in Beaconsfield. Picture: Gary Ramage

The men had spent five days waiting for a sign that the world above knew they had survived the collapse. They screamed and banged on their cage, until they were finally heard on April 30, 2006.

The next day, rescuers sent the first of many packages through a PVC pipe, visible in one of the pictures, into their hole. The pair received thermal blankets, Sustagen, dry clothes and medicine.

There was also a camera, which Webb used to capture some remarkable images - including their reactions after their first change of clothes.

They were crushed together in a space smaller than a child’s cubby house, with water streaming from the rocks surrounding them. There wasn’t enough room for both to lie flat.

A single piece of steel - 3m long and 22.5cm wide - had been ripped away from the mine roof and had speared into their basket.

A centimetre or two here or there, and it would have sliced one of them in half.

The steel lance dramatically reduced the already cramped space.

As Australia and the world waited, it was another torturous week before an escape tunnel finally reached the men and they walked free, smiling and pumping their fists in the air, on Tuesday, May 9.

The story attracted international interest.

Webb and Russell went on a US publicity tour and shared in a $2.5 million payment by the Nine Network and Australian Consolidated Press for their exclusive stories.

Nine’s eagerly anticipated television special proved one of the year’s highest-rating programs.