Coal Miner Freed After Cave-In Traps Him for 36 Hours
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PALISADE, Colo. — Rescuers working carefully by hand broke through a final layer of rocks today and freed a miner who had been buried by a cave-in for 36 hours in the phone booth-sized cab of his coal-digging machine.
Curtis Sanders, 32, was conscious when rescuers reached him at about 5:30 a.m. He walked unassisted part of the way out of the mine before agreeing to lie down on a stretcher as a precaution, said Powderhorn Coal Co. spokesman Dale Fenwick.
Sanders, who is married and has six children, was taken to a hospital for observation.
“He’s in good condition,” Fenwick said. “From what we could tell, all he had was a couple of small cuts and bruises.
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