72 Canadian Miners Rescued

Maybe there is something we can learn from Canada. A week after the second West Virginia coal mine incident took the lives of two miners and two weeks after a W. Va. Explosion killed 12, some Canadian miners found themselves underground when a fire broke out.

Seventy-two Canadian potash miners Monday walked away from an underground fire and toxic smoke on Monday after being locked down overnight in airtight chambers packed with enough oxygen, food and water for several days.

It sounds like the miners felt safe in their underground bunker.

Greg Harris, one of the miners, said he was never concerned about his safety as he played checkers with colleagues in the refuge room waiting to be rescued. They drew the checkerboard on the back of a map and used washers as chips.

``Everything is good,'' Harris told The Canadian Press from his home. ``Communication was excellent. We had no problems whatsoever.''

Analysts said the rescue could serve as a lesson for their counterparts in the United States, China and other countries.

Via Lucianne