This Google search, http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&um=1&tab=wn&resnum=0&ct=property-revision&cd=1&q=Indiana+bucket+accident&btnG=Search+ show a number of articles dealing with a horrible accident at a mine in southern Indiana (near Princeton). These articles me aware again of the randomness of accidents. These men were doing work that appears to have been done before. And something happened that ended their lives. I wondered how long they knew they were doomed. Here is a site that gave some answers to my morbid curiosity, http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/accelaration-gravity-d_340.html. According to the calculator they would have been falling at about 122 mph when they hit bottom if they fell 500 feet. If they fell out at a point to fall 500 feet it would have taken 5.575 seconds.
Of course, they probably did not fall straight down. They may have hit against the sides of the shaft, and been rendered unconscious in the seconds during the fall, or bumped into each other if they fell at the same time. I wonder if the shaft was lit? Probably not because why would a company “waste” money on such an amenity? Light could be brought to the shaft as needed rather than having energy “wasted” lighting a shaft no one needs to look at.
