LACKAWANNA COUNTY, Pa. — "A little scared because I didn't know what was happening," said Alex Cicippio of Philadelphia. She and her family were some of the more than 50 people who were stuck several hundred feet underground after a mining car at the Lackawanna Coal Mine Tour lost power.
"There was some sort of mechanical error, and we had to come up through the emergency capsule, so me and the kids came up, and we are still waiting for my husband," said Brynn Cicippio.
Once the decision was made to start evacuating people from the mine, operators used a metal cage to pull everyone to the surface.
"It was about 15 years ago that they broke an axle on the car, and they had to use it the last time," said Lackawanna Coal Mine Foreman Edmund Neidlinger. "I'm here eight years and never had to use it."
Mine Foreman Edmund Neidlinger controlled the winch that lifted the emergency cage up and down.
The cage only fits about three or four people at a time. Neidlinger says it took roughly two hours to bring everyone to safety.
"People respected what we had to do," said Neidlinger. "A lot of the kids had fun; they want to go back down and do it again"
"You were in this tube of solid rock, and I never experienced anything like that," said Jonathan Brewster.
He and Katelyn Brewster were two of the last few people brought up from the mine, an experience they and others say they will never forget.
"It's the first time we've ever been in a coal mine, probably the most thorough experience we'll ever have," said Katelyn Brewster.
"We also got coal from the coal guy down there; yeah, he gave us coal," said Dominic Cicippio.
With everyone above ground, mine operators say they will figure out what caused the mechanical issue.
They hope to fix the mine car in the next few days.