Archive: News

17 Cargill workers were rescued from an elevator stuck at about 900 feet below the surface Thursday at the Lansing rock salt mine.  The elevator had become stuck around 10pm Wednesday night.  An emergency call was received by the Tompkins County 9-1-1 Center at 11:40pm, and Lansing emergency responders were dispatched to the scene.  By 8:30am Thursday all 17 had been brought to the surface in a basket suspended from a special crane that held about four men at a time.

Miners and technicians were going down the shaft for a routine late third underground production crew shift when the elevator became stuck.  What is usually a five and a half minute trip turned into a ten and a half hour ordeal.  The Tompkins County 9-1-1 Center received a call at 11:40pm Wednesday reporting the workers were trapped in an elevator on their way to starting a late shift in the 2,300 foot-deep mine.  Lansing emergency responders were first on the scene.  They were soon joined by the Ithaca Fire Department and a myriad of other agencies and fire departments from as far away as Onondaga County.

"I am extremely relieved and happy to say that they're out," said Cargill Mine Manager Shawn Wilczynski.  'All 17 miners that were stuck in the shaft have been safely removed.  The number of people (who responded) were countless and endless.  There were numerous agencies, and the outpouring and willingness to help was extremely appreciated by us."

Incident Commander and First Assistant Chief Dennis Griffin was called at home at 11pm.  He worked with Wilczynski and other responders to set up a command center.  Griffin says that years of training with the mine's emergency response teams and the Ithaca Fire Department paid off in a smooth, successful rescue.  Numerous  local and regional emergency responders from as far as Onadaga County rushed to the scene.

Local businesses were eager to assist as well.  Lansing Market, Crossroads Bar & Grill and Dunkin Donuts sent food to the site for the emergency responders.  Lansing Market manager Sandro Mironti says meat manager Bill Canino called around 6am to suggest sending food and coffee.

"We made two of the big sheet breakfast pizzas," Mironti says.  "We made about 25 sandwiches, a platter of sweet goods and three or four pots of coffee.  When we delivered it to the site they were very happy that the community pulled together to help them.  That was a small token on our part to help these first responders.  They're the ones who are running in when we're running away."


Cargill officials were in constant radio contact with the employees, who had food that they normally bring for dinner during their shifts.  Each employee had cap lamps to provide light.  But while the mine itself is a comfortable 75 degrees year round, with about 10% humidity, the elevator shaft is cold.

"Our main concern was the safety of the miners and the safety of the emergency people around the site," Griffin says.  "Our concern was to get them blankets and hand warmers.  We got them portable heaters.  We kept in contact with them -- everybody could hear what was going on.  We did what we've been trained to do.  I can't say enough about the command center -- we all worked together and we all made it happen."


The two-story elevator is used to bring both people and equipment to the mine.  Wilczynski said the minors were split about evenly between the first and second levels. 

The mine, located on the Cayuga Lake shore, maintains two working shafts at all times.  Two elevators are in one of the shafts, and one elevator in the shaft in which the incident occurred.  Wilczynski says the hoist operator had done test trips and followed normal safety protocols.  But when the elevator malfunctioned, he said all of the safety devices functioned exactly as they are intended to.  That included the employees.

"They kept each others' spirits up," he said.  "They persevered the best way that they could, and prioritized who should come up first.  It's very impressive to see how well they managed the situation.  As is typical with them, they were joking, sharing stories, having a good time with each other.  Most of them said they were doing well.  They cuddled up to keep each other warm, and tried to keep each-others' spirits up.  They were highly successful at doing that."

Meanwhile, Tompkins County Public Information Officer Marcia Lynch was called to the scene at 1:15 Thursday morning to coordinate communications and set up a location for the press at Lansing Central Fire Station.  She sent press releases to about 100 local news outlets while fielding calls and requests from national news outlets including ABC, NBC, Fox News, CBS Radio, CNN, Associated Press.

At the same time Cargill reached out to the families.  Three Red Cross volunteers set up a reception center for families and loved ones to gather at All Saints Catholic Church down the road from Cargill.  Employees were also asked by radio if they wanted additional people contacted.


One of the greatest challenges was finding a crane with the capacity to haul a rescue basket up to 1,000 feet underground. 

"Auburn Crane & Rigging, specifically Steve Balinsky, who owns the company, and his crane supervisor Scott MacIntosh," Wilczynski said.  The expertise of these people and their willingness to help was impressive.  They had a crane that perfectly fit exactly what was needed, including the rescue basket."


An expert on the shaft went up and down with the basket to make sure miners were secured in full body harnesses with lanyards attached to the basket to insure that nobody could fall while they were being transported to the top of the shaft.  They were immediately brought inside nearby locker rooms where they could warm up and shower, but those who were rescued first went back to the shaft until every one of their co-workers was safely on the surface.

Wilczynski says that it is too early to predict when the mine will go back into operation.  As of yesterday there was no information on what caused the elevator to become stuck.  Wilczynski said they would have to remove it from the shaft to figure out exactly what happened.  But he said the company will work with the Mine Health and Safety Administration

"We will not go back to work until all of our infrastructure is back in 100% safe operating condition," he said.  "We do still have the elevator stuck in the shaft.  We're going to have to get the elevator out of the shaft.  We'll have to put new ropes on, inspect the elevator itself and replace it if necessary.  We need to take our time.  This is not an incident that we want to look at lightly.  We want to make sure that we're patient and provide whatever time and resources are necessary to insure that they can recover from this in whichever fashion that needs to be."


He added that the company's inventory throughout the state is currently at a high level, helped in part by an unusually mild winter, so a temporary halt in mining operations is not anticipated to impact the company's customers, and will not put pressure on the company to rush its investigation and remedies.

The Cayuga Salt Mine is the deepest salt mine in North America.  The mine spans from the topside Portland Point facility under the lake to as far north as Bill George Road.  Currently held mining rights will allow Cargill to expand farther north to Milliken Station before negotiating with the State again for more area.  It has been in operation since 1922.  The mine processes about 2 million tons of road salt that is shipped to more than 1,500 locations throughout the northeast US.  

Lynch said that Tompkins County hasn't fielded an emergency of this magnitude in a decade.  Wilczynski said he hadn't heard of a similar shaft incident in his 18 years of mining experience.  But Cargill and emergency response officials were in agreement that everyone involved in the incident, which included 15 different response agencies, was well prepared. 

"I'm proud of them, my crew and all the crews that were there.  I thanked each one before they left.  What we learned from it was that everybody had the right playing cards and we made it happen. Preparation, years of training, all of us being trained year after year... it worked tonight and it showed."

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