Help will be at hand sooner for miners trapped underground (Image: KPA/Zuma/Rex Features)
FATAL coal mine accidents over the past month in West Virginia and China offer a grim reminder of how difficult it can be to reach workers underground when their usual route to the surface is cut off. In many such accidents, even the best rescue technology can fail to get to people quickly enough – so how could it be improved?
When people are trapped below ground, it can often be a race against time for the rescue teams above them to drill narrow boreholes through which they…
