Beaconsfield mine survivors Todd Russell, Brant Webb in emotional TV reunion with Sunrise host David Koch

The survivors of Tasmania’s Beaconsfield mine disaster have given an emotional interview 17 years after they were buried underground for two weeks, revealing more details around the accident that gripped millions.

The survivors of Tasmania’s Beaconsfield mine disaster have given an emotional interview 17 years after they were trapped underground for two weeks in what became their “worst nightmare”.

Todd Russell and Brant Webb were reunited with host David Koch on his final show after more than 20 years on Sunrise, who said covering the disaster was “the highlight of my career”.

It was 2006 when a small earthquake caused an underground rock fall in the Northern Tasmanian mine, killing Larry Knight and trapping Mr Webb and Mr Russell almost a kilometre underground.

Mr Koch was there as the pair emerged from the mine shaft, and famously jumped in the back of the ambulance where Mr Russell gave him his ID tag he used to clock on to his shift a fortnight earlier — a gift Kochie called “one of his most treasured possessions”.

“It’s pretty amazing to sit back here and look at that footage after 17 years,” Russell said.

“ … and I still remember we came out and Kochie was there and I invited him into the ambulance and gave him that tag so it’s a pretty special moment being back here today.”

Mr Koch asked the pair how they were both doing since they were rescued, and what they remembered about their time trapped underground.

“(We were down there) just a couple of weeks, doesn’t seem a long time but when you’re very close in a confined space it’s a very long time,” Mr Webb said.

“It was funny because the fear was actually at the start, that was the problem.

“Toddy was covered in rock, I’d been knocked out (and) was coming around ... the worst nightmare for a miner is being covered in rock.

“And actually to be alive is even worse because you’re going to have a slow, painful death if they can’t get you out. And if they do get you out, nine out of 10 times you’re gonna die.”

Mr Webb said the reason why the pair garnered such worldwide attention was “because we actually lived through 100 tonne of rock on top of us”.

“That was the hard bit,” he said.

“I suppose the euphoric bit was ... getting found, and then we went through this huge rollercoaster of emotions because they couldn’t get us out straight away.”

Rescuers — including first responder Peter James, who was invited on to Sunrise as well —drilled pipes down to the pair for air, with food and water also being sent down inside a water bottle.

“If it fit in the water bottle, it’d fit down the tube,” Mr James told Koch and co-host Natalie Barr.

“There were a number of paramedics that worked underground and it was to keep their mental and physical health up to scratch as much as possible.”

Mr Webb also recalled a conversation after the rescue where a Monash University professor offered his services for anything they might need help with.

“So I rang him up a couple of days later and I said ‘mate, I think I’m gifted’. He said ‘why’s that Brant?’

“I said ‘mate you wouldn’t believe it, I could see in the dark when I was trapped down underground’. He said ‘ah right, how long were we doing this for?’ and I said ‘oh a good six days’ and he said ‘that’s not a bad hallucination, six days, is it?’ He said that’s how the mind keeps you sane, takes a photo and replays it.”

Mr Koch recalled the moment he found out the pair was freed.

“So we were driving from Launceston to the mine site, middle of the night, 3 o’clock and I got a call from Peter on the drive there saying ‘we’ve got them’,” he said emotionally.

The TV host was then told of Mr Russell’s request of wanting to meet and thank him, so devised a plan with Mr James to meet up in the ambulance.

“I’ve always been a Sunrise fan and when I came off night shift, I would go home, sit down and have breakfast, watch Sunrise before I got to bed,” Mr Russell said.

“Also in the initial stages of our rescue, we didn’t realise what the hype of Beaconsfield was, I was saying to Brant at one stage did we make the local newspaper ...”

Kochie quipped that the widely-broadcast moment led to a barrage of criticism from viewers who sometimes still call him “an ambulance chaser” and was glad to clear things up after so many years.

He then surprised viewers by returning Mr Russell’s ID card live on air, passing it over to him and saying “Mate, I think you need it back”.

“It was the highlight of my career, being there for you guys and getting to know Pete,” Mr Koch said. “It’s some of the lifelong memories and experiences I will treasure till the day I die.”

Mr Russell said it was “a lot of mixed emotions” to get his ID tag back.

“ … when I gave it to you on that day I only had three tags and I’ve only got three children, so to get this one back makes one each for my kids,” he said. “But in exchange for this, I’ve got another gift that I want to give to you today.”

Mr Russell then handed him a belt buckle the pair had made in 2006, with the words ‘The Great Escape’ at the top of an image of them coming out of the mine; a gift everyone who was part of the underground rescue received at the time.

Since the rescue, Mr Russell has become chief of the Beaconsfield Fire Brigade and Mr Webb is self employed in Beauty Point. He has also become a grandfather, giving his grandkids Jasper and Rachel a shoutout on TV.

Originally published as Beaconsfield mine survivors Todd Russell, Brant Webb in emotional TV reunion with Sunrise host David Koch