Brian's+First+Genre

The Miner’s Story

The day started off just like any other day. I woke up at 6:00 a.m., got up out of bed, got dressed in my coal mining uniform, and made breakfast for my family and myself. Then we all sat down and had breakfast together at 7:15 a.m. just like any other morning, at least that’s what I thought. I got up from the table at 7:30 a.m., kissed my wife and children good-bye, and wished them a good day. At that moment, I never thought it might be the last time that I ever saw them, kissed them, or talked to them again. I then walked out the front door, got into my car, and drove to the coal mines for my 8:00 a.m. shift just like every other morning, but that’s where I was wrong. When I arrived at the coal mines, I went through my same routine. I walked through the musty air; filled with coal dust and smoke from the mines and equipment until I found the dog tag post. There I took my number “713” from the “out of mines” board and placed it on the “in mines” board. I then proceeded through even more smog and coal dust until I eventually stumbled into the mine shaft elevator. I got in the elevator and began to look around. All I could see was blackness all over the elevator from the coal dust. The elevator began its descent toward the coal. I looked up until the last bit of daylight was gone from the shaft, and all was dark. We all turned on our mining helmet lights as we continued our downward journey. As we reached the bottom of the shaft, the elevator opened and we stepped out into the mining area. We all went our own ways to our own jobs in the mine. Everything was going smoothly, just like any other day. Then, suddenly, one of the roof supports gave out and everything collapsed in on us. The clouds of dust and dirt made everything seem darker than it was already. I looked around to see if I could find anyone else. Through the dust and dirt, I could barely make out the figures of about ten other miners to my right. But when I looked to the other direction, all I could see was a huge mountain of coal, dirt, rock, and wood fragments. We were trapped with no way out. The reality of the situation was beginning to hit me all at once. We were trapped in an area of the mine with minimal food and water, poor air quality, which meant toxic, deadly gases, and no idea how long it would be until we were rescued, if we were found. To make matters worse, our oxygen tanks gave us a total of thirty-six hours to combat the poisonous gases. The hours went by and turned into a couple of days. After about three days, it started to get really quiet. Since my battery-powered headlight ran out, I couldn’t look around to see what was going on. Even though I was trying to conserve as much oxygen as possible, my oxygen supply was deadly low. I assumed that some of the guys around me had fallen asleep never to awaken due to the gases. Another day or two went by, and as it did I began to grow weaker. The gases were starting to get to me. I was so tired, I just wanted to fall asleep and rest, but I knew if I did I probably would not wake up. The whole time I was down there, I couldn’t stop thinking about my wife and kids. All I wanted was to be able to hold them just one more time. I prayed to God to let me have that opportunity. Still, as the time went by it grew even quieter. I was beginning to wonder how much longer I could hold out. One week had gone by since the collapse when I was finally able to hear the sound of people and equipment growing closer to us. This motivated me and kept my hopes and spirits higher. A few hours after that, the rescuers finally reached us. When they got to us, I discovered that out of eleven trapped miners only three had survived the tragedy. The three of us were taken to the hospital where I was finally reunited with my wife and children. That was one of the greatest moments of my life. I spent the next month in the hospital undergoing rehabilitation. All of the doctors told me the three of us were the luckiest people in the world and they didn’t know how we survived those conditions. After a month I got to go home and be with my family. From that day forth, I have never looked at another day the same, especially after the mining accident that almost ended my life.