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Darren Flanagan

Darren Flanagan received a call late on the Sunday night that Beaconsfield Miners Todd Russell and Brant Webb were discovered to be still alive. How that one phone call changed his life from that of an ordinary family man to a real hero of the great escape is an emotive, dramatic and inspiring story.

Flown by a private Lear Jet at midnight from his home town Nowra, Darren was taken directly to the mine. It is to be a flight that changed his life forever.

Darren was nicked named "The Gun" by Todd and Brant because he was the one who charged and fired the explosives that eventually released them from their tomb 925m underground.

He spent a full week underground after his arrival, test blasting at the 630m level to simulate what he hoped he would never have to do. As this had never been done before anywhere in the world, he presented the results to the mine management who asked Darren to eventually blast to within 300mm of Todd and Brant.