To What End?!

By Andy A. Afrouz

An executive secretary in dark blue business attire and short colored blond hair, sitting behind her office desk, quickly checked her desk top office security screen to see who is outside. She then pushed a button under her desk which unlocked the office door and said: Come in please After the man entered the office, its door closed and locked automatically. The man said with a business like American accent: Good morning Camellia The boss is expecting me
The executive secretary replied: I know - Nice to see you Mr. Zorin She then informed her boss through her office intercom: Mr. Zorin is here to see you Sir Her boss, a man in a stripped brown suite, sitting behind an elaborate walnut desk in a modern, secured and sound proof office environments checked his security screen to make sure who is behind his office door, clicked on a strategically located remote door unlock device to his office and replied with a deep and authoritative voice: Please let him in

Camellia replied: OK Sir She then asked Mr. Zorin: Please, proceed
Zorin thanked Camellia, opened a heavy dark cherry door accessing the bosss office and entered. This door also closed and locked automatically. Zorin had a rough stone cold face with piercing black eyes and a mild smile. He had about two inches long healed gush above his right eyebrow which seemed to be caused by brushing of a bullet. Upon entry, he said: Good morning boss

The boss replied: Good morning Joe Nice to see you back He then pointed with his left hand to an armchair opposite his desk and said: Please, take a seat
Joe Zorin sat and replied: Thank you, nice to see you too boss
The boss asked: How you are and whats up?
Joe Zorin replied: I am fine thanks I brought the report you requested He then opened his briefcase, took out a somewhat thick report, forwarded it to his boss and said: Its all there with maps, photos and what not

The boss quickly fanned looking over the report, placed it at a corner of his desk and reiterated: Thanks Joe; Ill look at it closely later - In the meantime, we have a more pressing top secret project for you on the Iranian nuclear venture

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: May 23, 2014
• ISBN: 9781499019223

Andy A. Afrouz

Andy Afrouz has a Ph.D. from the U.K.; Post-M.S. and M.S. from the U.S.A.; and B.S. from the U.K. He was a past member of National and International Association of Mining Engineers, a Professional Engineer of Ontario, Canada and Australia. His professional experiences were in the U.S.A., U.K., Iran, Canada, France, Zambia and Namibia. He has published about 33 peer reviewed researched technical papers and 6 books (3 Technical + 3 Novels).

Book preview

Copyright © 2014 by Andy A. Afrouz.

Library of Congress Control Number:     2014908798

ISBN:                  Hardcover                        978-1-4990-1924-7

                Softcover                          978-1-4990-1929-2

                            eBook                               978-1-4990-1922-3

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This novel and names used herein are not based on any person or entity. It is not a documentary. It is a fictional story, which reveals how the world is or is becoming! In many instances one may find self, or someone they know, to be partly or wholly familiar with a nearly similar situation. Any similarity to anybody’s name, life or any organization or entity is not intentional demeanor.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 05/19/2014

Xlibris LLC

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

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Dedication

This book is dedicated to my beloved mother,

my wife Mary and my daughter Mona.

Contents

Author Biography

Preface

Prologue

Chapter 1:   Canadian incidence

Chapter 2:   Assignment to Argentina

Chapter 3:   Egyptian trap

Chapter 4:   Revenge

Chapter 5:   Homebound

Chapter 6:   WIA spy training

Chapter 7:   Family vacation in Argentina

Chapter 8:   Assignment to Iran

Chapter 9:   Family reunion in Canada

Chapter 10:   Last flight assignments

Chapter 11:   New life

Author Biography

authorphoto.tif

Andy Afrouz has a Ph.D. from the U.K., a post-M.S. and M.S. from the U.S.A. and a B.S. from the U.K. He has professional experiences in the USA, U.K., Iran, Canada, France, Zambia and Namibia. He has published 2 technical books and about 33 peers reviewed researched technical papers. However intriguingly, this publication is a Novel. His interests are the nature, literature, human interactions, peace, space ventures, science and technology.

Preface

Human are inherently honest and peaceful; unless their interests are interfered with those fine qualities. The corollaries prompt selfishness, unfairness, power-mongering, greed, corruption, and unethical behavior. This would cause lies to replace honesty and hostility to replace peace.

Please for a moment, deliberate deeply on yourself and then on others around you. Do you ever wonder what percentage of us human, including you, truly remain peaceful and excel in honesty and fairness throughout the life? So in this paradigm, we could practically withstand the tests of changing times, safeguarding our humanity and advance towards quality civilization? Resulting enhancement in our living environments through coexistence, tolerance, moderate choices in political systems and religious believes? Why don’t we choose the latter path, regardless of the effect of varied circumstances in life brought upon us, whether directly or indirectly, intentionally or otherwise and thrive to develop the mentality and intelligence which would lead to truly and really resist the urge in becoming an undesirable being of low quality and character? Why can’t we learn and practice to avoid disparaging and obliterating ourselves and others at unfavorable circumstances?!

A definition of real, as distinct from imaginary or fantasy has been defined for generations as undeniable or genuine or unchangeable fact. However, most things surrounding us, including ourselves, change all the time. Our physical appearance, knowledge, mental capacity, abilities and behavior change as we grow. Just as an example, each individual of us loses and somewhat replaces around 3,000 of our external and internal body cells, including our hair and skin daily, yes daily! Our eye lashes alone gradually falls and is replaced on average every 3 months! Our brain cells gradually develop from the time we are a fetus and deteriorate when we get old and decease. That is in total well over a million of our cells change annually!! Let alone changes we undergo in our personality and behavior over our life time. Therefore the reality is in contrast with its definition as unchangeable fact, at least in a long run! Could it then possibly mean that we may be living in a life of paradoxes? In this context, in reality nothing is as it appears to us or perceived by us in our limited three dimensional mind set; or within the world and life as we commonly know and understand.

How we human perceive things are in accordance with what we were trained or programmed to detect, to sense, to know or to consider as logical in our individual mind set. They may be different from what things may really be to different of us or even to other creatures in our world or in the universe in general. To clarify this phenomenon by examples: Let’s consider the letter Z; if it’s rotated 90 degrees, it reads N. The number 6 if rotated 180 degrees (upside down) it reads 9. The number 7 if rotated 180 degrees reads L. The number 8 if rotated 90 degrees reads the symbol of infinity in mathematics. The number 3 if rotated 90 degrees clockwise it reads w; if 3 is rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise, it reads m and if 3 is rotated 180 degrees in either direction, it reads epsilon in the Greek language and in mathematics it designates tiny! Therefore, what we perceive from what we see or read depends on our points of view and the vantage or direction or the way we look at things. I wonder if pets or other creatures in our world see us the way we see ourselves, or we see others?! With these noted, perception towards the same occurrence or thing may be different from one person to another depending on a person’s background, intellect, biasness and life experiences.

In this novel, readers may find different views in analyzing and interpreting occurrences, cause of an occurrence or reasons for a human taking an action. What may come into questions are morality, legality and circumstance of an action under sets of varied conditions or changing environments. Thus each reader may arrive at a different conclusion in accordance with his or her own unique perception or judgment; no matter how realistic or perfect one may think it is, or how imperfect that judgment may be. As perception almost always influences reality, the writer leaves it to each reader to interpret, analyze and reach a conclusion or judgment which is influenced by the individual’s background and understanding.

This fictional journey in life is a story which has something unique to offer. One can always learn from occurrences and opinions; then pass on a judgment as the story unfolds. In succinct, this novel reveals how an innocent person with good family upbringing and education becomes a loving husband, good father, a role model in his profession, and a desirable citizen. Then due to his unique expertise and abilities, he was set up and pushed to the brink of dangers. He was entrapped, coerced and blackmailed to spy on Iran’s nuclear ventures; despite his resentment and objections. This followed with series of vitriolic events which resulted to numerous murders. He had to lead a painful double life without being allowed or able to divulge it to anyone. Series of intransigence actions affected his life with burning conscious.

Prologue

As the history indicates, during the Bronze Age at around 4,500 years Before the Christ (B.C.), some Central European tribes migrated eastward to Asia. They had passed through Eastern Europe, around the Black Sea, Southern parts of the Caspian Sea and through the Northern parts of the Middle East. They settled in various locations along the way in areas currently known as Hungry, Romania, Moldavia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Caucus, Kurdistan, Iran, Afghanistan and Cashmere. Their eastward migration into the Central Asia was interrupted by the then difficult to pass Himalayan mountain ranges. Over many centuries, each of these settlers developed their own language, dialect, writing style, unique religion, civilization and way of life which was influenced by varied living environments such as climate, land, war and peace conditions.

About 3,500 B.C., some members of these tribes settled in and around a fertile and strategic area currently known as the Central Iranian Plateau. They lived a simple life on various types of agriculture and animal husbandry. At around 3,000 B.C., they gradually formed scattered statehoods. Some of these states conglomerated and formed the ancient Persian Empire at around 500 B.C. This Empire at its height and extent had covered vast areas with longitude from the Central Asia to the Eastern Europe, and latitude from around the Caspian Sea to the Persian Gulf and parts of the Northeastern Africa. The Persian Empire with about one million Persians was ruling about 7 million non-Persian populations, in the ancient time. In the course of history, like all the other Empires before or after it, the Persian Empire grew too large to be

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manageable. Those who didn’t learn the truth in history, or didn’t learn mistakes from the past Empires and their corollaries, were destined to repeat it. Consequently ego, miss management, selfishness, corruption, greed, unfairness, nepotism, complacency and double standard practices predominated in this friendly nation. The ancient Persian Empire gradually became weak, fragmented and lost ground to newer, manageable, and stronger competitors. In the modern time, it eventually became much smaller and changed its name to Iran.

In 1950, a pair of Iranian born married middle class intellectuals with an ancient family name of Aria migrated to the USA. They settled in the City of Colorado Springs, State of Colorado. Two years later they gave birth to a son and called him Andrew. He was the only child of the family. They became American citizens and embraced both their Iranian friendly heritage and the American culture.

Andrew has learned Persian and English languages from his parents since birth. His parents had believed on maintaining close marital relationships; practicing loyalty, honesty and high standard of ethics. Accordingly, Andrew was brought up with such exceptional sense of responsibility towards his citizenship, country of birth and closeness to his parents.

When Andrew was in elementary school, he was told by his parents and teachers that in comparison with other children of his age, he was very energetic, inquisitive and competitive. Andrew has been eager to perfection in his approach to studying and he was taught by his parents to try to learn things not just by theoretical understanding, but with practicality in mind. He used to challenge himself and thrived to be better than his classmates and friends. It would make him discontent to make a mistake. Thus he would try to learn from his and other people’s mistakes in order to achieve perfection. This mind set resulted Andrew to be successful in everything his was set to do. He was well known amongst his family and friends for his diligence, detail oriented and the hyper active friendly and humorous personality.

After Andrew had completed his middle school, the family followed better job market and moved to the City of Denver, Colorado. This was a larger and a rough City with sporadic gang violence. In the high school, he was exposed to various undesirable gang encounters in and out of the school. On the advice of his parents, his teachers and on his own instinct, Andrew tried to keep out of the trouble and concentrate on his education and future. He quickly realized that in addition to his ethical and educational progression, he needed improved physical and psychological strength to cope with the new conditions and the peer pressures he was faced with. So he started regular physical exercises at home and in the school gymnasium. His school was about 3 miles away from his home and he chose to walk to and from the school as additional means of keeping fit. Andrew gradually became interested in hobbies like weight training, martial art, swimming, volleyball, table tennis, violin, accordion, reading and literature while excelling in his high school education. During the summer months and school recesses, he was walking about 5 miles daily to the nearest stadiums or gym for some of the above noted exercises just to keep fit. His parents were encouraging sources to him by partially participating with him. He strengthened himself to the extent that he was consistently getting top marks in his schools’ physical education. He was inherently harmless and friendly if not bothered with, but the teenage environments of a large American city sometimes prompted him to take defensive measures and fight for his rights. He became well known in his circle as not to be messed with. He would not accept being unfairly treated, bullied or looked down by anyone without a protest.

As Andrew grew up towards his late teen hood, he gradually underwent profound changes. He became mellow, quieter, deep thinking and sensitive towards others. He became selective in friendship, and befriended only with quality colleagues of his own age group. He was an advocate of Having no friend is better than having bad ones and You are what you consume and who your friends are. Although having a palatable personality, he felt that his approach to life was different and somewhat subtle and more mature than most of his class mates or the neighbors of his age group, to the extent that he thought most of his colleagues could not understand him well. He has developed to a level of understanding to detesting any form of extremism or provocation. With this background, Andrew progressed to maturity by leaning towards ethical, healthy, active and simple life. The kind which he and his caring parents thought will benefit his community and resulting to a sense of responsibility, self-sufficiency and euphoria in life.

His parents encouraged him and led him in his quest to have a university education of his choice. With such valuable support system, Andrew graduated from the high school. Consequently, he was accepted in several universities to pursue medical, dental, agricultural, metallurgical, chemical and mining engineering. After extensive consultation, research and intense deliberation, Andrew has decided to study mining engineering. He realized that the civilization, as he knew it, was founded on the natural resources, namely agricultural and mineral products. He realized every material and thing surrounded him and his life, including the world of plastics and high tech, was made of either agricultural or mineral or with utilization of both of these product categories. He became convinced that without these two main resources the human life, civilization and psychology would have been different. Further research into his choices crystalized his liking for mining engineering and revealed to him that this is a multi-faceted career comprising mainly of geological engineering, mathematics, physics, chemistry, surveying, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering in addition to the mining technology. He was excited to be able to learn so many disciplines in one career development and developed fervor for it as a profession.

Andrew chose to pursue higher education in the Colorado School of Mines located in the City of Golden, North of Denver, Colorado. The choice was due to closeness to his home and the college had a high standing mining department in the US. He wanted to finance his own higher education and not to be a burden to his parents. Therefore, he worked in various nearby mines during the college recesses to finance his education and gain as much working experience as possible. With this philosophy and drive, he was given scholarship to continue his education. Eventually he graduated in Mining Engineering with in-depth usefulness, theoretical and practical understanding of his profession.

A year before Andrew’s graduation, he got engaged to his college sweetheart of two years, Sara Jenkins. At the time of his engagement proposal he told her that: I can’t imagine a minute of my life without you being in my mind and heart Sara had sky blue eyes, light sun kissed skin and straight flowing golden hair down to her shoulder. She possessed a kind smile which would lighten up her surroundings and a sense of humor which Andrew admired. She was a Canadian who graduated in Metallurgical Engineering the same year as Andrew. Upon graduation from the university in 1974, Andrew married Sara. They were offered a job by an international conglomerate of American and Canadian company as a Mining Engineer and a Metallurgical Engineer, respectively. At that time frame, Iran realized needs for a nuclear power plant to complement its petroleum fueled power stations. This need was due to facts that the country’s industrial activities were expanding fast and they were short on supply of electricity and power generation plants which was inadequately fueled by its petroleum. Therefore, Andrew and his wife Sara were both assigned to Iran working with the newly founded Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) for exploration and exploitation of the uranium resources in that country. Andrew was chosen for this position because during the university recesses in his undergraduate study he worked in uranium mines in the Rocky Mountain area of Colorado, had comprehensive on the job mining training with a good command of his profession and was fluent in Persian language. In addition, he has displayed outstanding drive and tenacity to excel in Mining Engineering.

Shortly after his recruitment, Andrew became in close contact with the international consultants and Iranian geologists engaged in the uranium exploration and exploitation. He was to find uranium deposits throughout Iran and has submitted plans to mine them. The mined rock was then to undergo various processes to make uranium oxide (U3O8) concentrate commonly known as Yellow Cake because of its color. This stage was Andrew’s wife’s job at the time. Eventually, the Yellow Cake was to be further purified, in several stages, to produce enriched uranium to be made into the metallic uranium called Nuclear Fuel Rods. This was then to be utilized as a fuel for the much needed Iranian nuclear power station which, at the time, was under design study to be built by the Germans. The AEOI was to be funded by the Iranian government and was technically helped by the American, German, British and French corporations and governments.

Those days Iran was governed under a Pro Western Shahs’ Kingdom system. It was a top trading partner on various commodities with the Western countries especially the US, Britain, France and Germany. Moreover, Iran had 10 percent share of the Russing Uranium Mining Company which, at the time, was owner of the largest Alaskite Uranium Surface Mine in the world. The Company was headquartered in South Africa; but its Uranium Mining and preliminary Mineral Processing Plant was located about 50 miles inland from the Pacific port City of Windhoek in Namibia, Africa. At the time, Namibia was ruled under the white dominated South African racist regime. The US, Britain, France and South Africa were also shareholders in this company. The Uranium produced in this mine was initially processed on the site up to making Uranium Oxide (U3O8) or the Yellow Cake. It was then partly shipped to South Africa, France and Britain for further processes to making Uranium Hexafluoride (UF6), which was then encased in special Aluminum tubes as the Uranium Fuel Rods. This product was then used partially in France, Britain and elsewhere in Europe as Nuclear Fuel for their Nuclear Power Plants. It was also shipped to Israel to fuel their Dimona Nuclear Power Plant, located near the City of Dimona in a mountainous region of the Negev Desert of Central Israel, which was built by France. Decades later, Israel developed, mined and processed their Uranium bearing Phosphate Ore deposit located near the City of Beersheba in the Negev Desert to augment its continually importing Uranium stockpile. Eventually with the direct and indirect helps from the USA, Britain and France, Israel produced Plutonium, Polonium and made Nuclear Bombs.

Throughout Andrew’s work with the AEOI, he tried to work with honesty, commitment, loyalty to the public, his employers and colleagues. Andrew was commended times after times by his employers and Iranian colleagues for his diligence, positive attitude, good work ethics and professionalism to the extent of calling him a role model. He drew pride to these virtues, tried to live up to and improve. Due to his self-discipline, perfectionism and commitment towards his jobs, he became well known and earned the thrust of high level private and governmental employers on the personal and professional basis. This led him gaining consulting and advisory opportunity with various Iranian governments and mining departments and had access to some highly sensitive national and international classified corporate and governmental information in the course of his career. His career led him working with various private international and governmental companies in Iran, until the1979 Iranian Islamic revolution which led to overthrowing the Shah’s corrupt regime and installation of an Islamic Government. At this juncture, the company which employed Andrew and his wife called them out of Iran and employed them in their Mining and Mineral Processing Company, headquartered in Toronto, Canada. In addition to the Mining responsibilities throughout Canada, Andrew also had senior level assignments to the Company’s subsidiary Mining Ventures in the US.

Shortly, the rest of Andrew’s family, who were originally living in Iran, gradually migrated to various parts of the world. Andrew and his wife resided in an upper middle class area of Bayview in Toronto. Their residence was a few blocks away from their work, on the subway and bus lines which served them well. Two years later, Andrew and Sara had gotten a son named Albert and a year after that they had another son named Alex. About 5 years later, both his parents deceased due to old age; and 4 years after that his wife of 16 years marriage died of breast and lungs cancers. This left Andrew devastated. To overcome the huge vacuum left in his life, Andrew tried to divert all his thoughts and attention to be a good single parent and a role model to his sons of then 9 and 10 years old. He had embraced his wife’s parents as his own parents and arranged for them to live with him, utilizing their experience, skills and care to help upbringing his sons. He also tried to keep busy at work, as a form of therapy for overcoming the vacuum left in his life and moving on with the sorrow of losing his soul mate. His tenacity at work facilitated promoting him to the Company Headquarter in Toronto as a Senior Manager and Mining Consultant in charge of the Company Planning and Design Department. Eventually he became a General Manager, responsible for all the Company Mine Planning and Designs; reporting directly to the Company Chief Executive Officer (CEO). In this capacity, he was kept very busy at work and as a devoted single parent had no time for re-marriage. Neither could he bring himself to replace the fond memories of his late wife and re-marry, despite feeling lonely at times.

Chapter 1

Canadian incidence

A medium height, well-built man with a black hair wearing a dark gray business suite and holding a black briefcase in his left hand entered a heavily security camera monitored building. The building was located in downtown Washington, DC, USA. After showing his identification card and undergoing through securities check, he went towards a half full elevator which was ready to ascend. The elevator had provisions to open on the opposite sides and had an operator in attendance. The man asked the attendant: Top floor please The attendant looked at the man and then pushed the appropriate button. When the elevator eventually stopped at the top floor, its doors opened on the opposite side for exit. The man thanked the attendant, got out and walked with heavy steps along a security camera monitored hallway to the last door on his left. He knocked on the door and waited to be permitted to enter.

An executive secretary in dark blue business attire and short colored blond hair, sitting behind her office desk, quickly checked her desk top office security screen to see who is outside. She then pushed a button under her desk which unlocked the office door and said: Come in please After the man entered the office, its door closed and locked automatically. The man said with a business like American accent: Good morning Camellia—The boss is expecting me

The executive secretary replied: I know—Nice to see you Mr. Zorin She then informed her boss through her office intercom: Mr. Zorin is here to see you Sir

Her boss, a man in a stripped brown suite, sitting behind an elaborate walnut desk in a modern, secured and sound proof office environments checked his security screen to make sure who is behind his office door, clicked on a strategically located remote door unlock device to his office and replied with a deep and authoritative voice: Please let him in

Camellia replied: OK Sir She then asked Mr. Zorin: Please, proceed

Zorin thanked Camellia, opened a heavy dark cherry door accessing the boss’s office and entered. This door also closed and locked automatically. Zorin had a rough stone cold face with piercing black eyes and a mild smile. He had about two inches long healed gush above his right eyebrow which seemed to be caused by brushing of a bullet. Upon entry, he said: Good morning boss

The boss replied: Good morning Joe—Nice to see you back He then pointed with his left hand to an armchair opposite his desk and said: Please, take a seat

Joe Zorin sat and replied: Thank you, nice to see you too boss

The boss asked: How you are and what’s up?

Joe Zorin replied: I am fine thanks—I brought the report you requested He then opened his briefcase, took out a somewhat thick report, forwarded it to his boss and said: It’s all there with maps, photos and what not

The boss quickly fanned looking over the report, placed it at a corner of his desk and reiterated: Thanks Joe; I’ll look at it closely later—In the meantime, we have a more pressing top secret project for you

At this time, the executive secretary called her boss on the phone and said: The authorization letter you wanted is ready for your signature Sir; would you like me to bring it to you now or later?

The boss replied: Bring it now, Camellia He then checked his security camera monitor, as usual and clicked on his remote door unlock device to his office.

The executive secretary said: OK, at once, Sir She immediately got up her desk to take the letter to her boss. She was tall and had a toned marshal-art body. She walked towards her boss with heavy dignified strides. She submitted a one page letter to her boss gave a dignified smile, as a curtsey, to Joe Zorin and stood for further instructions. Joe Zorin replied to the secretary’s curtsey with a mild smile. The boss took the letter which had a blue color stamp on its top reading HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL he read the letter with deliberation, put his stamp at bottom of the letter and said to Camellia: OK, take copies of this for our special file and bring the original with an envelope for me, please

Camellia replied: Yes Sir She took the letter to her office in order to follow her boss’s instructions.

When the men were alone, the boss said to Joe Zorin in a solemn voice: Please, arrange for this top secret project to be executed immediately and as a top priority—Only four people, including you, know of it at this stage—For strict confidentiality and sensitivity of this project, we must try to keep the number of people to know of it or involved in this at a bare minimum

Moments later Camellia knocked the boss’s door and waited to be admitted. Her boss glanced at his desk monitor again and clicked on his office remote door opener to admit Camellia. She brought the original letter back with an envelope clipped underneath and presented it to her boss. The boss double checked the letter and said to her secretary: OK Camellia, thanks

Camellia replied: You’re welcomed Sir and immediately left his office. The boss forwarded the letter with envelope to Joe Zorin and said: Here you are—Check and see if you have any questions

Mr. Zorin took the letter, read it carefully with his piercing eyes and replied in a solemn voice: Will be done boss

The boss reiterated: OK—Keep me closely informed of the progress; especially before you do anything drastic—Good luck

The man replied: OK—Thanks boss—I’ll keep in touch through our usual channel—Bye for now He then walked out of the office and on the way said his good bye to Camellia.

During this event, a surface lead and zinc mine, also called open pit, located near the city of Sudbury in the Province of Ontario, Canada was having its normal daily production operation. It was mid-Autumn season and cold in that northern part of the province. Late morning weak ray of sun was beaming down through the patches of high clouds. It was providing little natural warmth to the surface mine production workers. They were wearing layers of warm clothing. Later, chilly northwesterly breeze started to blow bringing darker clouds and light drizzle.

Previously drilled holes at the pit bottom were charged with explosive to be blasted. This was to separate and fragment lead and zinc bearing rock, called ore, from the ore-body. The blaster connected the charged lines, double checked his work and went to his predetermined blasting spot. He had informed the mine operations office to inform the mine workers on the load speakers that blasting is shortly in progress in the mine; so the employers should halt all their activities nearby, keep away a pre-planned safe distance from the blasting area and adhere to appropriate safety precautions. He then turned ON his blasters’ laud alarm twice indicating that the blasting is in progress, shouted twice FIRE—FIRE to make a final warning, made a final visual glance around to double check no body is near the affected area. Finally, the blaster connected the main line to the battery operated blasting devices and switched it ON to initiate the explosion. It created laud noise, rock projectiles in every direction and produced lots of dust. The blaster waited for a few minutes for the dust to settle a little. He then sprayed water onto the broken rock, through a water sprayer attached to a nearby water hose to accelerate settling of the dust. After the dust completely settled, the blaster walked through the exploded area to check and make sure all the blast rounds have been exploded, the blasted rock was fragmented adequately and it is safe to taking it out of the mine. He reported to the shift production supervisor, Ronald Howard, that: All are OK and safe to resume loading and hauling

Ronald Howard directed the mine workers: Go back to your work and commence your activities He then directed the 30 cubic yards capacity mine shovel operator and the drivers of a fleet of 6 large 220 ton capacity mine trucks on his two way walkie-talkie: Position your equipment to start cyclic loading of the broken ore onto the trucks and hauling it out of the mine where it is to be dumped into a rock crusher

The behemoth mine shovel moved slowly to position where it should start loading the newly blasted ore, onto the mine trucks one by one in a routine loading, hauling, dumping and return for another loading production cycle. At about 2:30 pm, one of the trucks was hauling its load up a three quarter of a mile long inclined ramp. It was roaring up the ramp at a speed of 5 miles per hour creating dust along its relatively dry path. A gentle northwesterly wind was blowing towards the mine. The truck was to routinely transport the ore out of the mine to dump it onto a rock crusher located on top of the mine. The crushed rock was then conveyed to be sized, ground, milled and transferred via sets of conveyor belt to the mine processing plant for physicochemical processes to separate the lead from zinc concentrates and eventually getting purified to make respective ingots for industrial use. Upon exiting the mine ramp, the truck driver noticed that a loader is active to clean up spilled rocks from the previous truck dumping, around the crusher on his path. He called the traffic attendant overseeing this operation on his two way radio communication system, called walkie-talkie, to inform him that he is reaching the crusher. The traffic attendant signaled to the loader driver to get out of the way for the truck to position itself. He then called the truck driver to drive in reverse towards the crusher intake in order to unload its cargo. The truck was reversed accordingly and approached the crusher intake with automatic laud bibs and flashing tail lights, meant to warn the nearby workers to be aware of a reverse moving truck, for the safety reasons. In that situation with the truck dimensions, height and its humongous tires being so large, visibility of the driver is in its minimum with maximum blind spots requiring careful and skilled maneuvering. The truck unloaded its ore into the crusher and perused towards the entrance to the mine ramp to reach its production area for another routine loading and hauling.

During the truck descend on the ramp towards the mine production area, located at the bottom of the mine, dark clouds formed nearby, decreasing the ambient temperature, increasing the wind and gradually forming fog at the lower elevations of the surface mine. The truck driver continued descending when he noticed slight ground movement on one side of the mine accompanied with land slide about 75 feet in front of his path. He immediately stopped his truck towards the wall side of the mine ramp and communicated his observation with the mine production supervisor, Ronald Howard, who was in the production area at the time. The mine supervisor looked around the mine and noticed a very slow start of the ground sliding in front of where the truck was and on one side of the mine away from his production area. He instructed the truck driver to immediately reverse at the nearest turn around and get out of the mine. He then instructed all the mine personnel to immediately execute their pre-trained emergency operation procedures, quickly move their mobile equipment away from the sliding area making sure it does not obstruct the way out of the mine, use all wheel light transport trucks to get out of the mine in a hurry, making sure their colleagues are out with them, congregate in the emergency area of the mine and wait there for further instructions from the mine senior staffs. The production supervisor then informed the Mine Manager, Owen Rebsch, of the incidence.

The Mine Manager immediately sounded the mine emergency alarm and instructed his secretary: Sandy, please inform all the mine senior staff and the first aid staff to execute mine emergency procedure—Also, inform the incidence to the General Manager, Mr. Andrew Aria at the Head Office in Toronto—Stand by for my further instructions—I am going to the site to lead the emergency efforts

The secretary replied: OK Sir—Good luck She then followed the Mine Manager’s instructions accordingly.

Andrew Aria received the secretary’s emergency call when he was in a monthly regional mine operations meeting with the company headquarter senior staffs. The secretary introduced herself and said to Andrew: Mr. Owen Rebsch asked me to inform you that there has been a rock fall in the Sudbury Mine. It occurred about 15 minutes ago and is continuing

Andrew asked: Is there any fatality or injuries?

The secretary replied: Not as far as I know

Andrew told the secretary: I’ll inform the CEO Alan Hansen and will fly there as soon as I can this afternoon He immediately passed on the words to the attending staff, designated his assistant, Glen Johnson to chair the continuing meeting and excused himself from the meeting. He then called on his boss, the Company Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Alan Hansen asking to see him immediately. During his meeting with the CEO, Andrew explained the Sudbury Mine incident and requested for authorization to use the company’s helicopter to reach the mine as soon as possible in case if his help is needed for any onsite technical decision. Alan Hansen authorized use of the helicopter and called the helicopter pilot Randy Rogers to stand bye to take Andrew Aria to the Sudbury Mine. He then asked Andrew: Keep me informed when you get updates or reach the mine site Andrew acknowledged and dashed out to get ready to board the helicopter. He called the helicopter pilot, Randy Rogers on his cell phone and asked: Please double check to have a full tank of fuel on board and the helicopter readiness?

The pilot reiterated: Yes Mr. Aria—I always check its readiness when I land or park—Are we ready to go?

Andrew replied: Yes Randy, I am on my way—Please stand bye He knew that the weather in Sudbury would be colder and more changeable than Toronto, so he gathered his warm winter clothing and safety hat, pre-stocked in his office; Took his laptop computer, and went to a waiting helicopter on the pad, with its blades revolving. Andrew boarded the helicopter and as soon as the copter took off, he commented: Randy, there is a continuing rock fall in the Sudbury Mine and we need to be there as soon as possible

The pilot replied: OK Sir—I will be as fast as I can despite a little windy and choppy condition

On the way, Andrew called the Mine Manager and asked: I’ve gotten your message a few minutes ago—I am on my way to your mine by a helicopter and will be there in about 45 minutes—Has there been any fatality or accident amongst mine personnel? Is your emergency operation fully in place? Are all of the mine personnel out of the mine? Are all the electricity and machinery shut off? Where was the rock slide occurred and what is its extent?

The Mine Manager replied: The mine emergency procedure is already in place—I am currently at the site for a close inspection and to set up an emergency monitoring and control station—When you get here, you will find me at the ramp entrance into the mine—The rock slide was initiated from the west wall and is continuing—I will give you more information as I gather it—Please standby to receive more info as I get it—See you soon Andrew—Thanks—Over

Andrew replied: OK, Owen—I know you will be very busy there, so I won’t take more of your time in this confound—I’ll call you again in fifteen minutes—In the meantime, if you find anything or need any help please let me know on my cell phone as soon as possible—Thanks, will see you soon—Over and out. He then relayed the information thus obtained to his boss CEO Alan Hansen and mentioned: I am in the process of inputting the information I received thus far in my laptop database, to pinpoint what caused the rock fall before I get there—I will contact you later as I get more info

Alan Hansen replied: OK Andrew, I have informed my staff for any contingencies and will be waiting in my office for any updates from you—Good luck

Due to the weak cementation of the beddings, rock bolts and ground reinforcement was utilized in the mine wall along its vulnerable west side. In this area, the strata bedding was towards the mine opening, which was making it vulnerable to the rock slide. The rock bolts was helping to slow the rock fall and slide. However, the rock fall was gradually increasing into the mine. The fog was also getting thicker at the pit bottom impairing visibility. However, there was still slight space and visibility for the personnel to get out of the mine. Due to the prior emergency training, the truck driver’s vigilance to give early warning, the emergency and evacuation procedure, which is usually hectic, was going relatively efficiently.

It was about 3:00 pm. Most of the mine personnel were out of the mine. They were waiting in the emergency station for further instructions. The Mine Manager noticed absence of the production supervisor, Ronald Howard. He immediately called the supervisor on the mine walky-talky to enquire his whereabouts and condition in the pit bottom. Ronald Howard replied: All is fine—The mobile equipment are safely parked away from the sliding zone—We turned off all the electricity from the pit bottom switch board—Only the pit bottom electric water sump pump is left running to keep the mine out of potential flood—The fog is getting dense down here—We have now about 50 feet visibility—I have started driving out in a light truck with the last two men left—There is nobody else near us—We have to pass through the sliding zone on the ramp—If we make passing through that, we are home free

Owen Rebsch instructed Ronald Howard: Don’t worry about anything else—Get out of there with your men immediately—On the way, make sure nobody is left behind—Keep our walkie-talkie contact at all times—I am at the mine exit ramp waiting for you

Ronald Howard replied: OK, Sir—We are coming out with our truck head lights and flood lights on—You should be able to see our flood lights with a binocular for now before the fog gets denser

Owen Rebsch reiterated: Please let me know if any of you encounter any difficulty getting out of there and keep safe He then instructed his Assistant Manager, Mark Lambert who has gotten to the emergency station: Please start the personnel head counts to see if all others are out of the mine Mark Lambert followed accordingly. Owen Rebsch was still at the mine exit to the ramp, watching Ronald Howard’s ascend through his binoculars and communicating with him by walky-talky and monitoring the situation.

Andrew Aria called the Mine Manager and asked for updates on the situation. The Manager replied: Most of the mine personnel are safely out of the mine and are waiting in the emergency station for further instructions—So far, only 2 minor injuries was reported—These are being treated by the first aid personnel—We know of three personnel still in the mine who are coming out of the mine by an all-wheel drive personnel carrier, one of which is our production supervisor, Ronald Howard—But have yet to pass through the rock sliding zone adversely affecting the mine ramp accessibility—The sliding zone is about 150 feet wide—Fog is forming in the mine—The visibility is about 35 feet now—The wind is from Northwest at about 15 miles per hour and increasing—Light drizzle has started 5 minutes ago and I suspect it will increase later—My Assistant Manager, Mark Lambert is taking tally of the personnel entered in the mine this shift and is doing the personnel head count to make sure nobody else is left behind in the mine—I am in constant contact with the 3 men and will update you as I get further information

Andrew reiterated: Thanks for the information Owen—If you haven’t done so, please send an all-wheel drive light truck with one or two first aid and rescue personnel with complete emergency kit down the ramp to stop before the potential sliding area to immediately defuse any potential mishap if needed—Please ask them to reverse their vehicle to be ready to evacuate, leave their truck engine with all its head and fog lights on—Ask the rescuers to contact the 3 missing men by walky-talky and look for them on foot while blowing their rescue whistle to get attention of the 3 missing men—Please don’t let anybody to go beyond the sliding zone yet

Owen Rebsch replied: We will do so—Thanks Andrew—See you soon He then immediately contacted the mine mechanical engineering supervisor for a good all wheel light personnel truck with fog lights and well equipped for emergency situation to be ready by the emergency station. He also contacted the first aid station for 2 experienced mine rescue and first aid members to accompany the truck down the ramp.

Andrew Aria relayed the updated information to his boss the Company CEO and told him: Alan, I will be on the site in about 20 minutes and will update you then

The Company CEO replied: OK Andrew, keep in touch—Let me know in case if you need anything from here—I’ll talk to you soon

Mark Lambert completed his tally and mine personnel head count and informed Owen Rebsch: All the mine personnel are accounted for to be out of the mine except those 3 men who are on their way out—Also 2 men have been treated in the first aid station with minor cuts and bruise to their hands and legs—They are on their way to the emergency station

Upon getting this information, Owen Rebsch instructed: Except the mine senior staffs, first aid and rescue staffs, all the mine personnel can go home to their family with full pay—Please make sure to drive your friends and colleagues including the two injured men home, especially if you are car pooling to and from work—Please report to work tomorrow on time as usual—Upon arrival tomorrow, stay in the emergency station for further instruction—Nobody is allowed to go in the mine from now on without authorization from me, the Assistant Manager or their immediate supervisors

The designated mine personnel dispersed and went home. At this time, the production supervisor, Ronald Howard called Owen Rebsch to inform: We are passing through the rock sliding zone and right in the middle of it, front of our truck were hit by a rock fall—The truck does not run and is in need of repair—With the low visibility, increasing drizzle and rock fall its risky to try to start the truck—All 3 of us are OK—We are getting out of the truck in an attempt to walk through the rock fall out of the mine—We will have the same risk staying put or walking back to the pit bottom—So we have decided to walking out

Owen Rebsch replied: I have sent a personnel truck down with 2 mine rescue personnel to the rock slide zone in front of you—Their truck lights and engine are kept on—They are trying to contact you and are waiting for you if and when you need any help—Watch for the rock falls, take refuge behind your truck or large block of rocks to keep safe and try to get out on foot immediately He then informed the rescue team of the situation in which the 3 trapped men are facing.

The mine rescue team reached its designated spot on the ramp, about 20 feet above the rock slide zone and turned the truck to the exit position. The senior rescue personnel immediately called Ronald Howard on his walkie-talkie and said: Hi Ronald, I am Johnny Johnson with the rescue team to help you—We are in front of you near the rock sliding zone waiting to drive all you 3 people out of the mine—We know your situation—Try to walk out with care while at the same time looking in front and above your head for any sign of rock falling near you—Don’t hesitate to take refuge when needed—Do you need any help reaching us?

Ronald Howard replied: Thank you all for being there for us Johnny—As you know, the visibility is not good—Please shine more light on our way, watch our overhead and caution us for any rock fall near us—That would be a big help to us so far—We 3 men are trying to stick together and walk out towards you—We can see your lights and are about 70 feet away from you—This is a hazardous 70 feet—Please keep in touch with us

Johnny Johnson said: OK Ronald we’ll do—Let us know immediately if you need anything—Good luck He relayed the conversation to Owen Rebsch.

Owen Rebsch immediately instructed another personnel truck with lots of fog and hand lights to be dispatched by mine rescue personnel to the scene to enhance the visibility and watch for the rock falls. He then informed Ronald Howard and Johnny Johnson of this action.

By then, news of the mine rock slide and 3 trapped men in the mine reached their families. They started to drive to the mine site. The families were kept in the emergency room for their safety while informing them of the rescuing progress.

When the helicopter reached the mine site, Andrew asked Randy: Please make a quick ride over the mine at a low altitude as possible, with the copter search light downwards to see from the above what’s going on with the 3 trapped men and the adverse impact of the rock fall. He then added: Upon landing, please ask the mine secretary to facilitate for you topping up your fuel tank from the mine fuel stock, double check the copters’ readiness and stand by the copter in case if it’s needed for any emergency operation as soon as possible—I will be with the Mine Manager Owen Rebsch at the ramp entrance to the mine—Please call me after you have completed your chores and stand by the helicopter until further notice"

Randy replied: Will be done—I found a spot to land away from the mine ramp and as close to the rescue station as possible

Andrew called CEO, Alan Hansen: Hi Alan, we’ve reached the mine site and are landing near the mine office building—I’ll be going to see the Mine Manager Owen Rebsch while Randy is to check on the helicopter fuel and its readiness for any potential emergency contingencies—I’ll keep you informed if I get further updates

Alan Hansen replied: OK Andrew, I’ll be standing by for any help if needed—Keep me informed—Over and out

The pilot landed and said: Good luck Sir He then went to the mine secretary to comply with Andrew’s direction. Andrew walked directly to the ramp entrance to the nine to meet with Owen Rebsch. On the way, he called the mine secretary: Hi Mindy, I have just landed—My helicopter pilot Randy Rogers is coming to see you—Please facilitate for his needs to fill the helicopter fuel tank and any help he may need to be ready for potential emergency and rescue operation—I am on my way to see Owen Rebsch and inform him on these needs

The secretary replied: OK Mr. Aria, will be done—Welcome to the mine

Andrew reiterated: Thanks Mindy, over and out

Andre found Owen Rebsch standing in the light drizzle in the entrance to the mine ramp and was updated on the situation. He in turn updated the Company CEO in detail and mentioned: All the necessary emergency steps are put in place—I will contact you in 15 minutes—It’s expected that the 3 men should be out of the mine by then—It’s now about 4:00 pm and it’s getting dark and foggy around here—The weather is slightly windy and drizzly—The ambient temperature is dropping—If the 3 stranded men are not out of the mine by then, I am thinking of a more aggressive alternative to the current rescue plan, as Plan B to put in action before the darkness sets in—Let’s hope we don’t come to Plan B

The Company CEO reiterated: OK, Andrew—If you and Randy need to stay there tonight or if coming back by the helicopter in that weather condition is hazardous, feel free to stay there tonight and tomorrow to help them—Keep me informed of the situation there

Andrew replied: OK Alan—We will do—I’ll talk to you soon—Bye for now

The awaiting head rescuer, Johnny Johnson, called the stranded production supervisor, Ronald Howard and informed him: The number of rock falls is increasing while our visibility to see them in time to warn you efficiently is decreasing—We will try our best to watch for you—Please make sure all you three people to take extra care and vigilance before stepping out of your refuge forward—If you notice any noise or movement, stay behind your refuge till it’s over

Ron Howard replied: I understand—We will do the best we can He then relayed this information to the other two accompanying personnel.

Johnny Johnson relayed the same information to the Mine Manager, Owen Rebsch whom in turn informed Andrew Aria and his Assistant Manager.

At this time Andrew Aria decided to execute his Plan B, and suggested: Owen it’s starting getting dark, foggy and soon we’ll have to deal with higher wind speed and showery conditions—It’s better to ask the three men to stay together and refuge either behind their disabled truck or behind a large block of rock, nearby—To stay put, ensuring their safety behind the refuge and wait for your further instructions—Our helicopter can be immediately utilized to fly overhead and pick them up one by one to get them to the top side of the rock sliding zone—They can then be transported out of the mine by the awaiting personnel carriers on the ramp—I have already instructed the helicopter pilot to make sure the helicopters’ gas tank is filled—Also we need at least two strong straps or rope, about 100 feet in length, to be hanged down to take the men with the help of a mine rescuer—What do you think Owen?

Owen Rebsch replied with a pleasing smile: What a good idea Andrew—Thanks that you came here with your copter He immediately instructed his first aid and rescue supervisor to get the straps or ropes ready and called the rescue team waiting on the ramp near the rock sliding zone to be ready for getting a rescuer ready to be hanged up by the helicopter for the rescue attempt. He then asked his mechanical supervisor to immediately attach the straps or ropes safely to the helicopter ready for the rescue.

At the same time, Andrew contacted the helicopter pilot to make sure of the feasibility of this rescue attempt, making sure the helicopter gas tank is filled from the mine fuel stock and anything else needed for this rescue attempt.

All the personnel and materials were ready in about 10 minutes. The information and how the rescue operation was to be done were relayed to the 3 stranded men and to the rescue team on the ramp, so that all the personnel were on the same page. The helicopter pilot took off with one rescue and first aid helper on board towards the rescue team waiting on the ramp near the rock slide zone. The pilot contacted the Rescue team leader, Garry Miller and said: I am Randy Rogers the helicopter pilot coming towards you—Please make sure you have one rescue personnel ready with his equipment to be lifted to the site of the 3 stranded men to help them for being lifted up one by one—My visibility up here is poor, so I need one set of your two trucks’ fog lights to be shined straight upwards showing me your position on the ramp, and the other set of fog lights to be shined towards position of the 3 stranded men—This will help me to overcome the poor visibility for finding either of you two groups

The rescue team leader replied: OK Randy, I am Garry Miller—We will do so—We are waiting for you He immediately instructed his crew to do what the pilot asked.

While all this was going on, Andrew updated his boss in Toronto that he has put the Plan B in motion and explained to him of the rescue efforts in action.

The CEO said: I am pleased of the plan Andrew—Good thing that you took the helicopter there to be utilized—Good luck Andrew—I am relaying the situation to the Company President—Please, keep in touch for any future developments

Andrew replied: We will do Sir—If everything goes well according to the plan, this operation should come to a successful conclusion in about 25 to 30 minutes—I will call you then—Bye for now

The helicopter pilot positioned its craft on top of the rescue team and asked his rescue helper to lower both of the rescue straps down towards the team. He then contacted The rescue leader and asked: Two straps are being lowered to you—Since its windy, I am hanging a 10 pounds weight to both of the straps and sending them down together—Please ask your designated rescuer to secure one of the straps safely and comfortably around his waist and between his feet so that he can be lifted up and carried towards the 3 stranded men—End of the other strap is to be held by the rescuer to use for securing it safely around one of the 3 men to be lifted towards your team—As a precautionary and time saving effort, please make sure that the two strips are not tangled in the wind—It’s important to keep our communication on at all times in order to guide me towards position of the 3 stranded men—I don’t have a good visibility and my helicopter is not steady in the wind—My search light is being shined downwards to show you my position in the air He then relayed the same information and procedure to the production manager, Ronald Howard and asked Randy to talk amongst themselves to designate who is going to be lifted first and who the last.

The rescue leader and production manager acknowledged the procedure and wished the pilot good luck.

During this commotion, one of the mine rescuers, called Mickey, strapped the rope on himself and with the help of other colleagues made sure that it’s secured. He held the second rope and got on the walkie-talkie, asked the pilot: Hi Randy I am Mickey the rescue man, ready to be lifted towards the 3 stranded men

The pilot replied: Hang on tight Mickey its windy and you may experience some swinging—Please let me know if you encounter any problem—Here we go He then lifted up the helicopter flown towards the 3 men to be rescued. While on the way, he asked his helper: Please, shine your light on the mine wall and watch for helicopter blades not to get less than 25 feet closer to the mine walls or any rock fall—The craft will have swinging in the wind—I have to rely on your warnings—I can’t watch everywhere in the dark as wind, fog and drizzle are also upon us

The rescue helper reiterated: OK Randy I’ll do my best—Good luck

At this time the helicopter was positioned on top of the 3 stranded men. The pilot called the hanging mine rescuer, Mickey and said: Please guide me to lower altitude to position the helicopter right on top of one of your 3 men who is designated to be rescued first and let me know where to keep the helicopter steady

Mickey replied: You are to move 5 feet to your right and keep steady Randy

Randy the pilot acknowledged and followed accordingly. He then contacted Ronald Howard and said: Hi Ronald, get your first man ready to be lifted up—Mickey, one of our rescuer is hanging on a separate rope to help for the rescue

Ronald Howard replied: "Thanks Randy—You are right on top of us come down about 10 feet for the rope to be strapped on one of our men—I will be the last to be lifted up—Please watch for the continuing falling rocks, increasing fog and drizzle—Its wet around