Fourteen Days Down Under: The Beaconsfield Mine Rescue That Captivated the World | E222

When a 2.3 magnitude earthquake struck the Beaconsfield Gold Mine in Tasmania on ANZAC Day 2006, seventeen miners were underground. Fourteen walked out. One didn't survive. And two men — Todd Russell and Brant Webb — simply disappeared into the rock. In this episode, Julie and Kaycee go deep into the fourteen days that followed: the silence, the injuries, the moment rescuers heard something unexpected, and the painstaking engineering effort to bring them home — plus the part of the story that rarely gets told, what survival cost them long after they walked back into the light.

00:00 Patreon

00:34 Podcast Intro And Setup

01:09 Mine Collapse Strikes

03:46 Meet Todd And Brant

05:42 Trapped In Darkness

08:44 Rescue Plan And Bad Ground

11:07 Singing Confirms Life

12:28 Borehole Lifeline Supplies

14:00 Injuries And Long Wait

16:05 Grief And Gallows Humor

17:57 Music And Foo Fighters Note

19:57 Drilling The Escape Tunnel

21:58 World Watches The Rescue

22:46 Day 14 Breakthrough

24:50 Aftermath PTSD And Community Cost

28:05 Why They Survived

30:22 Legacy And Closing Thanks

32:19 Reviews And Listener Outreach

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REFERENCES:

1. Beaconsfield Mine Collapse, Wikipedia
2. Bad Ground: Inside the Beaconsfield Mine Rescue — Tony Wright, Todd Russell & Brant Webb
3. The Examiner, Launceston — "Rescuers Real Heroes," April 2016
4. Australian Geographic — "On This Day: Beaconsfield Miners Rescued," November 2013
5. SBS News — "Beaconsfield Miners Speak of Lasting Scars," April 2016
6. Raisebore Australia — Beaconsfield Rescue Case Study, raisebore.com.au
7. Monument Australia — Beaconsfield Mine Rescue Plaque Record
8. Celebrity Speakers Australia — Todd Russell Speaker Profile
9. World Socialist Web Site — "The Australian Media and the Beaconsfield Mine Rescue," May 2006
10. Geoscience Australia — Seismic Event Records, April 2006
11. Channel 9 — Todd Russell and Brant Webb exclusive interview, May 21, 2006
12. 60 Minutes Australia — Todd Russell interview on PTSD
13. The Sydney Morning Herald — Beaconsfield Mine rescue coverage, May 2006
14. Prime Minister John Howard — Parliamentary Reception Statement, May 29, 2006

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