On Aug. 5, 2010 in Chile’s Atacama Desert, 33 Chilean miners were trapped some 2,100 feet below the earth’s surface in a collapse of the San Jose Mine. The story became international news, and engineer Bill Maloney ’80, who had spent his career drilling ventilation shafts in coals mines, felt called to help.

Reaching out to friend Brandon Fisher and others in Chile, he helped develop the plan that led to their rescue 69 days later.

Known as Plan B, it was one of three rescue attempts approved by the Chilean government. It used a “down the hole” hammer — a heavy steel piston with a carbide and diamond-impregnated bit that vibrates up to 1,500 times a minute and turns as it pounds.

Maloney went on to found the Mine Rescue Drilling Fund, which provides critical assistance for mine rescues around the world. In 2010, he ran for governor of West Virginia.