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Bravery recognition for role in mine rescue

A WA man is among four unsung heroes of the dramatic Beaconsfield mine rescue to be added to a group bravery citation.

In 2006, Australia watched as Brant Webb and Todd Russell were freed from a collapsed mine shaft in Beaconsfield, Tasmania.

The two men and their colleague Larry Knight were trapped when a small earthquake on April 25 triggered an underground rock fall at the gold mine.

While Mr Knight perished, Mr Webb and Mr Russell survived for five days on groundwater and a muesli bar - and sang Kenny Rogers' The Gambler to stave off boredom.

On April 30, rescuers found an opening big enough to pass through essential supplies to the trapped men but it was too small to get them out.

At that moment, WA resident Scott Franklin and a team of miners with expertise in low-intensity explosives were making their way to Beaconsfield.

The Leeming resident and his team worked in pairs at depths of up to 925m underground during 12-hour shifts to help rescue the pair. Mr Franklin, along with the late Brett Chalmers, Darren Flanaganand Jeremy Rowlings will be today added to a citation for the rescue gazetted in 2012.

BRAVERY AWARDS
NINE WA PEOPLE RECOGNISED
I WATCHED SHARK EYEBALL ME: HERO
STAR OF COURAGE FOR PILOT
PAIR PUT ASIDE FEAR TO SAVE FISHERMAN
KNIFE HERO
COMMENDATIONS
BRAVE BROTHER RECOGNISED
FEARLESS GRANNY
RIVER RESCUER