Sunrise host David “Kochie” Koch has reunited with the survivors of the Beaconsfield mine disaster, an event which he recalled as one of the of the highlights of his career.
Koch received critical acclaim for his live reporting from the scene of the Beaconsfield mine where three miners became trapped under 800 tonnes of rock for two weeks.
During the reunion on Friday, which took place on Koch’s final day as host, Koch and the two men revealed some of the never-before revealed backstory of the iconic TV moment when Koch climbed into the ambulance after they were rescued.
“One of our viewers, Todd Russell, was trapped underground and he would be sending up notes in that tube,” Koch said.
“They used to send notes of what had happened on Sunrise and he would reply asking for me to see his mum and dad, asking if we could we pop around and check on his wife and kids.”
Survivors Brant Webb and Todd Russell both appeared on Friday morning’s program alongside paramedic Peter James to recollect one of the biggest moments’ in Koch’s career.
“I’ll never forget that day,” he said.
Mr James broke the news to Koch that the rescue team were in the process of extracting the two men and hatched a plan to get the TV presenter to meet Russell in the ambulance driving him to hospital.
He was even gifted the miner’s identity card which he used to clock on to his shift two weeks earlier before the accident – which Koch called “one of his most treasured possessions”.
“I still remember the day we came out and Kochie was there,’ Mr Russell said.
“I invited him into the ambulance and gave him that tag. It’s a pretty special moment to be back here today.”
Mr Webb said the pair had discussed the decision for some time while trapped beneath the earth.
Koch joked that the on-air moment lead to a slew of criticism from viewers who accused him of being an “ambulance chaser” and said he was glad to clear the facts up after all this time.
Co-host Natalie Barr asked why he did want to speak with Koch so soon after escaping the disaster.
“I’ve always been a Sunrise fan and when I came off night shift, I would go home, sit down and have breakfast, watch sunrise before I got to bed,’ he said.
“Also in the initial stages of our rescue, we didn’t realise what the hype of Beaconsfield was, I was saying to Brant at one stage did we make the local newspaper.”
Koch then surprised viewers by returning the ID card to Mr Russell live-on air, absent-mindedly passing it over to him and saying: “Mate, I think you need it back”.
Moved by the host’s decision to return the memento, Mr Russell expressed how meaningful its return would be to his children.
“I can say one thing, Kochie, I have a lot of mixed emotions to get this back from you today,” he said.
“Knowing that when I gave it to you on that day I only had three tags and I’ve only got three children, so to get this one back makes three, one each for my kids.”’
Not wanting to leave the host without any to remember the historic moment by, he pulled a package out of his pocket and handed it to him to open on-air.
Koch appeared overwhelmed by the gesture before revealing to the audience a belt buckle crafted with an image of the survivors at the mine site.
“We had them made back in 2007 and everybody that was part of the rescue underground received one of them,” Russell said.
“I happened to have a spare one at home and that’s for you.”
It was Koch’s final day as host of the show after more than 20 years as host of the breakfast program.