SOMERSET —
“We’re glad to see they all got out alive,” said John Kelly of Latrobe as he, his wife, Delores, and two of their grandchildren toured the Quecreek Mine Rescue Site on Saturday afternoon.
The Kellys just missed an estimated 300 people who were at the site earlier Saturday as the Quecreek Mine Rescue Foundation hosted the eighth anniversary of the miraculous rescue of nine trapped miners - all alive - after being trapped in the flooded coal mine 200 feet below Bill Arnold’s dairy farm for four days in July 2002.
“We’ve been here four times,” Delores Kelly said.
On their latest visit Saturday, they brought with them Michael Kelly, 11, and Logan Kelly, 8. The children are the sons of Sean Kelly, a coal miner from Wheeling, W.Va., and the elder Kellys’ son.
As they were preparing to leave the Quecreek site, John Kelly said the family was heading to visit the nearby Flight 93 crash site.
This year the Quecreek rescue is linking with the tragic crash of Flight 93 on Sept. 11, 2001, which represents the extremes of our human experience, said Arnold. Both happened in Somerset County just months apart, he added.
Arnold said U.S. Rep. Mark Critz, D-Johnstown, was among those at the anniversary celebration. He was one of the rescue workers at Quecreek during those harrowing four days and was an assistant to the late congressman John Murtha, who died in February. Critz was elected to fill Murtha’s unexpired term.
Critz’s cell phone was one of the few that worked at the Quecreek site, Arnold recalled. He said he asked the congressman to bring it to the rescue site to be included with the hundreds of other exhibits there.
Tom Foy and Blaine Mayhugh, two of the rescued miners, attended Saturday’s event.
The rescue site is off Route 985 in Lincoln Township.
Arnold said the exterior of the new educational visitors center was completed Friday evening. Hopes are to have the interior done by the July 2011 anniversary, he said.
The visitors center now is housed in a temporary facility not far from the center under construction. The new facility will have two floors. Arnold estimated its cost at $1 million.
There is no charge to visit the site, but donations are accepted. Arnold said his family makes no money from the visitors.
The center is visited by 10,000 to 15,000 people each year. The visits began just after the miners were rescued and continue to this day, Arnold said.
Arnold continues to operate his farm in addition to his other projects.
Jeff Reinbold, project site coordinator for Flight 93, presented an overview of plans for the Flight 93 Historic Site on Saturday morning before the Quecreek anniversary celebration.
Local News
Related Photos
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Bill Arnold raises a new flag Saturday at the Quecreek Mine Rescue Site on his farm. Dave Lloyd
Discussion
Mine rescue site marks 8th year
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