Navy Medicine Aids in Miners' Rescue

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By Jan Davis, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery

SOMERSET, Pa. (NNS) -- If there is a moral to the story of the recent rescue of nine miners trapped 240 feet underground in Pennslyvania, Capt. Dale Mole' says it's that Navy Medicine is "steaming to assist."

Last Thursday morning, Mole', the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery's director of undersea medicine, had been following the drama of the trapped miners when a high-priority e-mail flashed on his computer.

It was from Lt. Cmdr. Raul A. Velez, a Naval Reservist assigned to the Navy and Marine Corps Reserve Center Pittsburgh, near Somerset. Velez had been contacted by Lt. Cmdr. Nick Colovos, Medical Corps, a Naval Reservist who was also a member of the civilian Special Medical Response Team (SMRT) at the mine site.

His question: Does the Navy have a mobile decompression chamber that might be transported to the site to treat the miners once they were rescued?

Several telephone calls and a few hours later, nine Navy portable hyperbaric chambers from eight different commands were on the road, arriving in the open field with trucks and equipment at 10 p.m. With them were two Navy diving medical officers, Mole' and Capt. Henry Schwartz, Medical Corps, and 57 hospital corpsmen and divers, all with diving medicine skills.

"The SG (Navy Surgeon General) recognized that there was no other organization that could do what needed to be done," said Mole'. "Like our motto says, we were 'steaming to assist,' moving out to provide the expertise needed. In this case, we were going to decompress miners in a cow pasture in Pennsylvania."

The chambers and Navy Medicine know-how were needed to help prevent the miners from getting decompression sickness, or "the bends," a very painful and sometimes fatal condition that is caused by a too-rapid ascent. When water flooded into the mine at about 200,000 gallons a minute, a wall of water compressed the air to about twice normal atmospheric pressure, enough to cause the bends.

Mole' said that fortunately, with the exception of one miner, there wasn't much need for their hyperbaric chambers because so much water had been pumped out of the mine. But Navy Medicine was still able to provide assistance.

There were hundreds of rescue, medical and mining experts participating in the rescue, but few had the experience of setting up for what might be a long term effort. Navy Medicine, however, did. They were able to make valuable recommendations on everything from sanitation to privacy protection.

"We know how to work in the field," said Mole'. Navy Medicine's efforts didn't go unnoticed. Mole' overheard
Sipesville (Pa.) Fire Chief Mark mbanini tell a reporter that he wanted to "thank President Bush for sending in the military."

"He didn't know it was the Navy Surgeon General who sent us," said Mole'. "But I think we all appreciated the spirit of his words."

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Navy Diving Community Supports Miners'
Rescue

By Chief Journalist David Nagle, Naval Sea Systems Command
Public Affairs

SOMERSET, Pa. (NNS) -- The recent rescue of nine trapped coal miners in Somerset, Pa., involved the combined efforts of several local, state and federal agencies.

This team included members of the Navy's diving and salvage community, including divers from Naval Sea Systems Command's Supervisor of Salvage and Diving (SUPSALV) directorate and Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Technical Division in Indian Head, Md.

When the Navy learned of the mine collapse, the Chief of Naval Operations' Office directed SUPSALV to support the rescue operations by providing assistance and equipment to treat the
miners for possible decompression problems. SUPSALV quickly assembled a team of diving and medical experts from the Fleet - from commands including Underwater Construction Team One, Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit Two, EOD Mobile Unit Two, SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team Two, EOD Technical Division (EODTECHDIV) and the Bureau of Medicine.

Within hours, the SUPSALV and EODTECHDIV personnel were on scene, with the rest of the team on their way to Somerset to assist.

SUPSALV learned that the miners were trapped in an area of the mine containing an air pocket. As the water level increased in the mine, it caused the pressure in the air pocket to increase, creating an environment of pressure equivalent to being in about 40 feet of water.

"Assuming the miners remained in that pressure environment, they would have needed about 25 hours to decompress in the mine, or about five hours if they were transferred to a recompression chamber and given oxygen to speed decompression," said Medical Corps Capt. Henry Schwartz, SUPSALV's Diving Medical Officer and the senior Navy representative at the rescue site.

The Navy diving team arrived with decompression chambers and the new Emergency Evacuation Hyperbaric Stretchers (EEHS), foldable Kevlar tubes just now being delivered to the Fleet. The SUPSALV personnel brought one of the EEHS units with them, carrying it in the back of a rented vehicle.

Within 18 hours of receiving the first phone call, the diving team was set up and ready to treat miners.

Meanwhile, the rescue team pumped water from the mine, lowering the pressure in the area where the miners were trapped. This action slowly decompressed the space and the miners, to the point where the pressure was normal by the time the miners were rescued.

Schwartz and a hospital corpsman from EODTECHDIV treated one of the miners with symptoms of compression illness, using a Transportable Recompression Chamber System, with good results.

Throughout the rescue operation, there was a general feeling of optimism by both the rescuers and the family members of the trapped miners.

"It was extremely gratifying to see all the various people and groups pulling together," Schwartz said. "Little has been said about the drillers, but they worked around the clock with little rest for three days."

This operation provided the added benefit of training for the diving community, said Schwartz.

"It gave us the chance to rapidly bilize units for a scenario that could be very similar to a disabled submarine with men trapped under increased pressure at the bottom," he said.

The overall operation and the Navy's participation ran "textbook smooth," according to Schwartz, due in large part to the professionalism and dedication of the Navy diving community.

"Our preparation went rapidly because many of our people accepted responsibility before being officially tasked," he said.

"When the tasking came down, they were ready to go.

"I was proud to represent the Navy, and I'm sure to a person everyone else in our group was as well."