However this was not going to be an ordinary day. The news broke over the ABC Regional Radio while breakfasts were being prepared. A tragic mining accident had occurred overnight. A miner who was only 34 years of age was killed when the face of a bulldozer cut gave way and crushed him. This was a tragic accident.

The residents were now walking around in a half daze having woken up to this awful news. Those who didn’t know were soon told by others. It didn’t take long for news to filter through that the unlucky miner was Tom Kyrtzaliotis. The large Greek community was in shock. One of their own, a man who came to Coober Pedy when he was only a week old, who went to school here and grew up here, was no more.

It was only during Easter at the Opal Festival that we watched Tom’s father Nakos Kyrtzaliotis, being inducted into the Coober Pedy Opal Miners Hall of fame and being presented with his plaque by his daughter Zara. Now the town and the many mourners watched in total dismay as the Kyrtzaliotis family stood by as the cortege took their deceased son’s body to the airport with a police plane on standby, as his death was now a case for the Coroner in Adelaide.

The night before while the town slept the Telebridge System kicked in at 1.20am alerting members of the Mine Rescue Squad and the Ambulance. This was activated by the SA Police (SAPOL). Pagers started to beep and phones rang. If you are a volunteer member of the Mine Rescue Squad / SES, the CFS, Ambulance or you are a Police Officer this is always a dreaded sound no matter what the time of day or night. The calls to the Hospital and the Doctor on duty must be dreaded also, but this time they were not required to save a life for it was too late.

Ten members of the Mine Rescue Squad, 2 Ambulance Officers, and 3 police attended the scene of the mining accident at New Field, 13 kilometres from town. The Mine Rescue Squad assembled at gate 13 and were directed to the scene by SAPOL. The magnitude of the scene before them must have been overwhelming. Banks of lights were at hand casting much needed illumination. The volunteers train for all possible rescue scenarios in all types of conditions above and below ground, for mine rescues and motor vehicle accidents. Nothing could have prepared them for this. Tonnes and tonnes of soil and rock had dislodged from a 45-50 foot face and buried the miner next to an excavator he was operating at the site.

Once the site was deemed safe rescuers set about digging to find the miner. Thoughts must have flashed through their minds as to whether he was alive. It would have been a very slim chance. Rescuers worked side by side as they dug the body out, shovelful by shovelful. Painstaking, slow, meticulous work. They had done this many times before. Yet this time nothing could have prepared them for what they encountered. The body was removed and the rescue finished at 5.30am. A debrief with SAPOL wound up the operation. Counselling was organised and offered.

The morning sun was starting to rise. The enormity of the accident and its consequences were beginning to sink in. Workplace Service Officers who just happened by chance to be in Coober Pedy had now finished their initial work during the rescue. Their main job was just beginning. It is their task to investigate every major accident and death at a workplace in the state.

Opal mining falls under their jurisdiction. Where a person is killed in an accident, if violence occurs, the exact cause of death is unknown and numerous other scenarios, the situation immediately falls under the wide ranging powers of the State Coroner. Firstly an autopsy is performed to help determine the cause of death. Should this prove to be inconclusive and or the above events occur the Coroner’s Act states that an inquest may then be held in order to ascertain the exact circumstances that led to the death.

It is vital that readers are aware that there were no witnesses to this mining accident and any speculation as to the cause is futile.