Re: Keeping fingers crossed (many prayers as well) for Penn. miners
Officials: Rescuers, Miners Speak<br /><br />SOMERSET, Pa. (AP) - Rescue workers made contact Saturday with some of the nine miners who have been trapped underground for three days via a telephone dropped through a pipe, according to rescue officials.<br /><br />Rescuers were seen hugging and giving the thumbs-up sign soon after dropping the telephone into the shaft 240 feet below.<br /><br />They're all down there. They're waiting to come up. There's nine of them. We talked to them on the telephone,'' a mud-caked rescue worker shouted up from the pit near where they dropped the communication device.<br /><br />After three days of desperate drilling, a giant auger broke through at about 10:16 p.m. to the dark and cramped chamber where the miners had been trapped since 9 p.m. Wednesday.<br /><br />Workers quickly set about removing the drill and preparing the shaft for a rescue capsule.<br /><br />Rescue workers had remained optimistic the miners were alive, even though there had been no contact with them since midday Thursday, when tapping was heard on an air hole.
