As B.C. miners await rescue, here’s how other operations have played out

By Canadian Press on July 24, 2025.

Rescue operations involving a remote-controlled scoop and drones are underway at the Red Chris mine in northern British Columbia, where three miners are trapped underground.

Here is a look at some previous mine rescues in Canada and around the world.

September 2021: Thirty-nine miners at Vale’s Totten mine in Sudbury, Ont., survive being trapped almost a kilometre underground for four days, after the main shaft is damaged by falling equipment. The miners climb or are hauled to the surface via ropes and ladders.

October 2010: Thirty-three gold miners in Chile are extracted from deep underground, after a complex 69-day operation that garners worldwide attention. The rescue that included Nasa engineers involves boring through 600 metres of rock to reach the men. The men went more than two weeks without any contact from the surface.

April 2010: Flooding of the Wangjialing coal mine in Shanxi Province traps more than 150 workers underground. Thirty-eight are killed, but 115 are rescued after 11 days trapped underground. Chinese state media says a team of 3,000 workers help drain the flooded shafts.

May 2006: An earthquake at the Beaconsfield gold mine in Tasmania traps two workers in a lift. They survive on a single cereal bar and by licking water from rocks before supplies are delivered via a small shaft. They are rescued after two weeks trapped about a kilometre underground.

January 2006: Rescuers in Esterhazy, Sask., retrieve all 72 workers who were trapped in the Mosaic potash mine by an underground fire. The miners retreated to refuge rooms sealed off from the toxic smoke, and all were brought to the surface after 30 hours.

— With files from Associated Press

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 24, 2025.

The Canadian Press