Medal of Bravery
Awarded on: 1995-02-10
Invested on: 1996-06-21
After a massive explosion inside the Westray Coal Mine at Plymouth, Nova Scotia, on May 9, 1992, two hundred and one men attempted to rescue twenty-six miners trapped underground. For the next five days, rescue teams searched around the clock for survivors. Despite the perilous mixture of highly volatile gases, they repeatedly went underground, beneath a largely unsupported and unstable roof structure. They crawled around twisted pieces of steel that had once been supporting arches, passed machinery that was no longer useful or recognizable, climbed over rockfalls and debris, and waded through brackish water. The teams moved cautiously and silently, fearing that the slightest noise or vibration would cause further rockfalls or explosions. Rescue efforts were finally abandoned after more than a kilometre of the mine had been searched, with no sign of survivors. The rescuers recovered the bodies of fifteen of the twenty-six victims.