Specialist mine rescue crews, ambulances and helicopters rushed to the mine as soon as the blast was reported.
Sandia robotics engineers have designed the Gemini-Scout Mine Rescue Robot, which finds dangers and can provide relief to trapped miners.
ENGADGET: Gemini-Scout robot can scope out mining accidents, may save lives (video)
Mine rescue teams confirmed that the four miners at Gleision Colliery were trapped by water after they broke into an area of old mine workings.
Albert's 80-year-old grandson Noel Snailham, himself now a retired miner and former mine rescue team member, recalled the mixed emotions his mother felt at this act of selflessness.
To speed rescue efforts, engineers at Sandia National Laboratories have developed a robot that would eliminate some of the unknowns of mine rescue operations and arm first responders with the most valuable tool: information.
ENGADGET: Gemini-Scout robot can scope out mining accidents, may save lives (video)
An effort to send rescuers through the collapsed mine tunnel to attempt an underground rescue was suspended last week, after a new cave-in killed three rescuers and injured six others.
The collapsed coal walls were in front of us, and about 20 mine workers -- who are now rescue workers -- were on the scene.
Mine engineer Renee Aguilar, another of the rescue coordinators, said the first 10 members of a 16-strong extraction team arrived at the San Jose mine Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the miners continued to aid with their own rescue by clearing rock that had fallen into the mine as a result of the drilling.
Luis Urzua - the shift leader and last man out of the mine - paid an emotional tribute to all those involved in the rescue.
Rescue work is continuing at a major US-owned gold and copper mine in Indonesia after a tunnel collapsed on Tuesday, trapping more than 20 workers.
If the guidelines are adopted, Japan would also be able to take part in mine-sweeping operations, join naval patrols monitoring sanctions and use its navy to rescue nationals caught up in a crisis.
After the 2, 300-foot hole in Chile is secure, materials and equipment will be brought in so that the rescue capsule -- dubbed the Phoenix -- can be lowered into the mine.
But the pride felt in the rescue attempts was tinged with bitterness in Senghenydd, as many felt that the mine's owners had failed to heed the warning of a similar disaster nine years before, in which all but one of the 82 miners on shift had been killed.
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