Yellowknife (Oct 29/03) - A hushed courtroom listened Friday, as Jim O'Neil recounted the horrific events of Sept. 18, 1992, when nine miners, including his best friend, were killed by a bomb that shook Giant Mine -- and Yellowknife -- to its core.

O'Neil, who crossed picket lines during Giant's contentious labour dispute, was one of the first rescuers on the scene following the blast that killed his fellow strikebreakers.

He described a harrowing scene of smoke, twisted metal and human remains: a scene that haunts him to this day.

Yellowknifer obtained O'Neil's Friday testimony. He is suing a host of defendants for $1.8 million. His case is being tried in NWT Supreme Court in tandem with a $15 million suit launched by the relatives of the nine dead minors.

Due to its graphic nature and length, the testimony has been edited.

O'Neil's account begins just after the fatal blast, as he walked down a dark tunnel more than 750 feet below the surface.

Immediately after the blast:

Jim O'Neil: I could see a light coming (and) somebody walking towards us. It looked a little different because... the light was flickering and I never seen anybody run underground before.

When I could... see his face I recognized him as a trammer -- a Procon trammer -- Serge Duguay.

His eyes were as big as silver dollars. He ran by and yelled, "Everybody's dead." And that's all he said. He didn't stop. He just kept running.

We got to the B-shaft ventilation door (and) we stopped for a brief moment. The door was twisted and mangled... and the frame was pulled right out. I never seen metal twisted like that.

We came to find George Samardzija, who is a track man underground. He was bent over and he almost looked like he was being ill, physically sick. He looked up and he didn't say much. He just said, "No good." That's all he could say.

(We continued down the tunnel) maybe 20 yards... through smoke and fog. (We saw) the track wheels of what looked like a mancar, but there was nothing (left). The doors and any wooden structure (were) gone.

I looked up beyond that and (saw) twisted wires and pipes. There was nothing I saw that was recognizable as human. There (were) some hard hats and ... a lunchbox.

I lost my sense of conscious reality. I went into a sort of state where I felt like I was a little old man standing with a Charlie Chaplain hat in the 1800s, looking at a mining disaster.

Then at some point, I snapped myself out of it and came to realize that this was a situation requiring some emergency response.

(I saw another miner) and said, "Has anybody checked for signs of life here?." He said, "No," so I walked to the left side and... came upon what would be the north side of the explosion site.

I noticed a set of red coveralls and it was just legs, but no, no upper body. So there was just legs and they were leaning against the wall with boots on. I felt a little, a little shaky when I saw that.

And I looked down to check my footing because of the smoke and I found that I was standing on what appeared to be part, part of a man.

I quickly stepped off of that.

I found a hole... and looked down (and) saw what was possibly a head and neck of a human being. I reached down to check the pulse (but) no, it wasn't to be.

I moved further south... and came to an intact, an intact man. I crawled over top of the man so I could better perform first aid or ascertain whether he was alive.

I saw this man's coveralls resembled my friend Chris Neill's. They were a pin-striped locomotive style of coverall and that's what Chris wore.

(He was) in a ditch, lying face down. The mine water was moving his hair in a fashion, kind of back and forth.

I was able to reach down and pull him up onto my knee... and check for a pulse.

I placed my friend back on the ground and moved towards the southern end of the blast site. I knelt down beside this man on the track drift (but) I was not able to (feel) a pulse in any location.

Noel O'Sullivan (a fellow miner) assessed the situation and said, "(There's) no hope. These men have been dead for too long." Not having the proper equipment to assist with an airway, I agreed with Noel.

Blast aftermath

Don Moroz was the shift boss foreman and I asked him if he knew who these men might be. Don was extremely distraught, crying. Both of us were very upset, but we tried to write down the names of people (who) it could have been.

The company sent down security and first aid personnel. I directed (them) to towards the man that was lying in the track drift and told him that in terms of basic triage, that this was the man that was most intact.

(They) didn't spend much of their time there. They left and went back to report their findings.

I told (Dr. Ross Wheeler) and the crew... to take a minute and compose yourself before you walk into that site, that scene.

(When I got to the surface) I was in some state of shock and having some difficulty walking.

I met my wife in C-dry and we hugged each other. She asked me what had happened. I told her that I thought the union had set a bomb and did exactly what they were going to do and killed a bunch of men.

She asked me who and I said "I can't really be certain, but I think they got Chris."