It allows the mine rescuer to work in a poisonous atmosphere for up to four hours.

"They told them to go home because they weren't going to let the mine rescuers back in.

And there were more than 1,000 soldiers, police, firefighters and mine rescuers participating in the effort, local officials said.

Mine rescuers have often been recognised in Britain by the award of gallantry medals.

Specialist mine rescuers, police, fire and ambulance teams were working at the drift mine Friday.

The exhibit included mine rescue equipment, historical photographs, and film footage of mine rescuers.

The first mines rescuers were the colliery managers and volunteer colleagues of the victims of the explosions, roof-falls and other accidents underground.

Coverage gripped Canadians for several days as teams of draegerman (mine rescuers) searched the debris-strewn depths of the mine for survivors.

The deadly explosion, probably caused by flammable gases, occurred after mine rescuers had earlier been deployed to extinguish a fire in the Eastern shaft of the mine.

Before Britain's first mines rescue station opened at Tankersley in Yorkshire in 1902, pit managers and volunteers were usually the first untrained mines rescuers.

MONTCOAL, West Virginia - Mine rescuers retreated for the third time early on Friday after thick smoke foiled their efforts to reach four coal miners missing since the deadliest U.S. mine disaster in a quarter-century.

It is based on an actual historical event, one of the worst industrial accidents in history, the Courrières mine disaster in 1906 in Courrières, France, where rescue efforts after a coal dust explosion were hampered by the lack of trained mine rescuers.

"Sadly, another mine disaster and more Utah miner (and mine rescuer) deaths have led Defendant here to convene another MSHA panel, this time with a goal of determining MSHA's alleged complicity in the accident," the plaintiffs' attorneys wrote.