They were called out when the gas registered 80 percent of the atmosphere in the tunnel. Huge fans were brought in to clear the tunnel so rescue efforts could continue. Twelve workers near the elevator survived the blast unhurt and carried two injured workers out. Rescuers retrieved seven more seriously injured workers from deeper in the tunnel. The tunnel had exploded once before and I began to think it could go again.
Debris litters the tunnel following the explosion.
Eastwood and other rescuers, many of them seasoned tunnel men, moved about looking for anyone who could be helped. When we found men alive, we bandaged them, tied them to a stretcher and then moved on, leaving them for rescue workers to carry out. It was bad, real bad. The two other ambulance workers, Paul Richards and Alexander Vargo Jr., had to be evacuated themselves, Richards with an injured hand, and Vargo passed out from lack of oxygen. Not all rescuers had oxygen masks.