WorldWide Drilling Resource

Discovering More Than a Bare Hole Compiled by Caleb Whitaker, Associate Editor WorldWide Drilling Resource ® Construction workers often discover strange things underground, but a crew in Bolu, Turkey, had a unique barrier to overcome because of an expected find one morning. As the crew re- turned to their excavation work on a septic tank, they encountered a dirt-laden bear trapped deep beneath the forest floor. The animal is believed to have fallen into the septic tank after venturing onto a nearby farm for a bite to eat from its favorite chicken buffet. The crew’s rescue operation included creating a hole in the tank using a hy- draulic hammer attached to an excavator. As they smashed the hole into the terrain, suddenly their trapped animal friend poked one of its paws and snout out, seemingly to try and give his rescuers a bear hug. However, the distraught bear was not in a good mood because of the loud machinery hammering away near its head. Unable to bear the noise, the trapped animal became distressed and clawed wildly in anger at the dirt, trying to gain its freedom. At first, the bear tried to make the hole wider on its own accord, and attempted to bite the helping machinery every time it got too close. Eventually, the drilling machinery was able to stretch the threshold of the cav- ity wide enough for the impatient bear to squeeze through and scamper up the slip- pery dirt to freedom. Once the relieved bear made it onto the grass, it darted away into the forest with no outward expressions of injury or embarrassment. Excavations are sure to uncover interesting things buried beneath the earth, and occasionally something completely unexpected is found like a bear who overindulged on chicken and fell into a hole. So, when on a work site, always be prepared for those rare finds, and no matter what is discovered, always keep your bearings. You ever had an unusual experience at the jobsite? We would love to hear about it! Give us a call 850-547-0102 or e-mail editorial@worldwidedrillingresource.com Open the Doorway to all the Event Photos during the 43 rd Annual Conference on Explosives and Blasting Technique by the International Society of Explosives Engineers. To see all the pictures from this event, click here, or go to: worldwidedrillingresource.info/ gallery/2017/ISEE2017. Feel free to download at will and print the photo(s) of your choice. Compliments of WorldWide Drilling Resource ® . Photos are copyrighted and released for personal use only - no commercial use permitted. International Society of Explosives Engineers’ Annual Conference on Explosives and Blasting. 18 APRIL 2017 WorldWide Drilling Resource ®