Sunrise co-host David Koch breaks down in tears as he recalls most ...

Sunrise star David Koch has looked back on some of the biggest events he covered during his time on breakfast TV, in an emotional interview with co-host Nat Barr.

Kochie sat down for a wide-ranging chat as he prepared to leave the show on Friday after a record-breaking 21 years.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: David Koch breaks down in tears recalling most ‘memorable’ story.

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Asked by Nat what the most memorable event was, Koch cited the Beaconsfield mine disaster in Tasmania in 2006.

On April 25 that year, a small earthquake triggered an underground rockfall at the mine, with 17 people still inside.

Fourteen managed to escape after the rockfall, miner Larry Knight died, and two other miners - Brant Webb and Todd Russell - were found alive on May 9.

David Koch talked about covering the Beaconsfield mine disaster in Tasmania in 2006. Credit: Sunrise

The rescue effort gripped the nation, with hordes of journalists arriving in the town to cover the story - and David Koch was one of them.

“Beaconsfield still stands out in my mind for a number of reasons,” he told Nat.

“It was more than a ‘story’ because one of our viewers was trapped down there in Todd Russell.”

Kochie explained that pipes had been put into the mine for air and to send food down to the trapped miners, who would send notes back up to the workers trying to rescue them.

“They used to send notes down that tube to Todd on what happened on Sunrise that day to keep his spirits up,” Kochie recalled.

Kochie then became emotional, saying he wasn’t sure how he’d be able to get through telling the rest of the story.

Todd Russell, right, and Brant Webb, left, hug family after being rescued from Beaconsfield gold mine on May 9, 2006. Credit: Ian Waldie/Getty Images

“He would send notes back up sledging me, (then) saying could we pop around to see his mum and dad and wife and kids,” he continued through tears.

In the two-week period between the rockfall and the rescue, Kochie did get to know Todd’s family - as the entire country held its breath to see if the two men would come out alive.

“We would hang around in Todd’s parents’ kitchen,” Kochie explained.

“Off air, we would pick up the kids from school. We’d do it privately.

“So there was a connection with the family.

“And this is what people didn’t understand.”

Workers delivering equipment to help rescue the two miners who had been found alive in the Beaconsfield mine. File image. Credit: Getty

Kochie said he would “never forget” the day the two men were pulled out of the mine.

“We were driving to the site and outside the mine was a massive media village from around the world,” he recalled.

“While we were driving there at 3am we got a call from one of the rescue workers saying, ‘We got them’.

“They’d been rescued.

“All of a sudden, the village lit up and the world’s media is hanging outside the Sunrise location as the rescue workers were ringing us.

Todd Russell hugs family and friends after being rescued from the Beaconsfield gold mine on May 9, 2006. Credit: Ian Waldie/Getty Images

“One of the workers was a paramedic, Pete, who rang and said, ‘Todd said he wants you at the gate. I’ll be driving his ambulance and the side door will be open, and Todd wants to say thanks for hanging out with my family’.”

“What did you think?” Nat asked.

“Wow, how special is this, and of course I’ll be there,” Kochie answered.

“So when he called me into the ambulance it was so special, and he gave me his little tag, and I’ll treasure it for the rest of my life.”

Brant Webb and Todd Russell speak with then-Australian opposition leader Kim Beazley. Credit: Pool/Getty Images

Koch said his daughter, who was working for the US media outlet Bloomberg at the time, called and told him “the whole world was watching” when an embarrassing moment unfolded.

“The whole world was taking Seven’s feed and all of a sudden my backside filled the entire screen and all of her colleagues looked at her,” he remembered, adding that his daughter described the moment as “so embarrassing”.

“It became more than a story because we got to know the family.

“It felt closer, because we knew the family and it made you appreciate the connections Sunrise has with the community, which I’m proud of.”

On Friday’s Sunrise show Russell and Webb sat down with Kochie and Nat to revisit those memories.

“It’s pretty amazing to sit back here and look at that footage after 17 years and I still remember the day we came out and Kochie was there, and I invited him into the ambulance and gave him that tag,” he said.

“It’s a pretty special moment to be back here today.”

Webb added he and Russell were down there for a couple of weeks, which he told Kochie “doesn’t seem like that long”.

“But when you’re in that close space it’s a very long time,” he said.

“The fear came at the start... that was the problem.

“Todd was covered in rock, I’d been knocked out, the worst nightmare for a minor is being covered in rock... because they can’t get you out and nine out of 10 times you are going to die.

“It’s a big deal, that’s why we were such a sensation, because we actually lived through 100 tons of rock on top of us.”

Russell and Webb recalled the “huge rollercoaster of emotions” they felt when finally getting out, while Kochie said they were driving from Launceston to the mine site at 3am when they got a call.

“I got a call from Peter on the drive there saying ‘we’ve got them’,” an emotional Kochie recalled.

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