Mine rescue helper kills self

He helped locate where miners were

Thursday, June 12, 2003

By Milan Simonich, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Bob Long, who became a controversial figure after parlaying his role in the rescue of nine trapped coal miners into a movie deal for himself, committed suicide Monday night.

Long, 37, shot himself outside his home in Jenner, Somerset County.

Hundreds of rescuers worked for 78 hours last July to free the Quecreek Nine, as the miners were called, from a flooded shaft 240 feet below the Earth's surface. But only Long, a surveyor, and the nine miners themselves received payment from Walt Disney Co. for the movie rights about the ordeal. Long got $150,000, the same amount as each of the miners, touching off a cantankerous relationship between him and the rescued men.

Long's windfall and derogatory comments he made about the miners angered many in Somerset County. Long publicly criticized the casual attire of the miners when they appeared at the governor's residence for a barbecue celebrating the rescue.

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