New Device Could Seek & Save Trapped Miners

摘要

A mining-engineering professor at West Virginia University, Keith Heasley recently earned a $110,511 grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to develop a seismic system for locating trapped miners. The system is portable and can be set up within minutes of arriving at the accident site. It's a project that stems from the Sago mine disaster, an explosion which trapped 13 miners for nearly two days in January 2006 in Upshur County, W.Va. The miners were trapped 2 miles inside the mine at about 280 ft below the ground. The sole survivor later recounted how he and his fellow miners took turns pounding on roof bolts and bearing plates underground with a sledgehammer, in hopes that rescuers above ground would hear those pleas for help.