Russell had spent eight and a half months in hospital before posting on social media on November 3 that doctors had run out of options. "The time has come, medically and physically, where there are no further options on either front for me & there is no more fight left in me," he wrote, thanking the staff at Launceston General Hospital for their "overwhelming support, care and kindness". He returned home the next day to be with his wife, children and friends.
Russell was one of two miners thrown into the world spotlight when a rockfall on Anzac Day 2006 trapped him and co-worker Brant Webb in the basket of the vehicle they had been working in, a space about the size of a dinner table. A third miner, Larry Knight, was killed. The pair were presumed dead before rescuers, who had been blasting a new tunnel to reach them, made contact after five days. They survived on a single muesli bar and groundwater before emerging from the shaft on May 9.
Russell told the ABC podcast I Was Actually There in 2024 about the rock mass suspended above the pair: "We had how many tonnes of rock suspended above us like a jigsaw puzzle and we only needed one rock to move for it to come crushing in, killing Brant and myself." Trapped underground, he could initially move only his forearms and head. "Everything else was completely buried," he said.
The rescue made Russell a national figure, but he later described the aftermath as a "constant barrage of media frenzy for days on end", with reporters hanging over his fence while he tried to have breakfast. "I hated it because you went to work as a normal person, and you come out of there with your identity lost," he said. He struggled with mental ill health, worsened by the loss of his parents in the years after his rescue, and told the podcast he came home one day to find his wife and kids packed and ready to leave him. "There was only one person that couldn't see the direction that I was heading, and that was myself," he said.
In a 2022 sports podcast appearance, Russell described seeing himself in two ways: "There's Popeye, who's a big tough man. But there's Tweety Bird. Behind the scenes, a lot of people don't see when I go and sit and cry." He said he still could not understand why he was spared that night and was "kept here for a reason", including speaking at safety conventions.
Russell did not take up mining until his late 20s. He was also a keen footballer and hunter, and served as a volunteer firefighter with the Beaconsfield brigade for more than 30 years, retiring as its chief in 2026.
The brigade acknowledged his passing with "great sadness", posting: "Rest in peace, Todd. Thank you for your service and dedication. You will be sadly missed." Tasmanian Volunteer Fire Brigades Association state president Raz Stow said Russell's "contribution to his community and the Beaconsfield brigade and the respect he earned from others leave a lasting legacy that will not be forgotten".
Premier Jeremy Rockliff posted: "Vale Todd Russell. Thoughts this morning are with Todd's loved ones and everyone who had the absolute pleasure of knowing him." Local MP Michael Ferguson, who visited Russell at home on November 6, said he had thanked him "not just for his extraordinary service to our community as Beaconsfield fire chief, but for the friendship and the good things he brought to this world". "Todd has endured so much over these past few years. It all seems terribly unfair," Ferguson wrote.
Russell is survived by his wife and children.