FLOODED MINE

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28802, 24 January 1959, Page 13

FLOODED MINE

12 Miners Missing

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 11p.m.) PITTSTON (Pennsylvania), Jan. 23. Twelve coal miners were still missing early today in the Knox Company’s flooded mine on the outskirts of Pittston. Anguished relatives waited near the mine entrance as rescue workers battled to stop the flooded Susquehannna river from cascading into the mine. Forty-four miners escaped within hours of the disaster, 28 being rescued while hip-deep in the freezing swirl. Twenty-six are in hospital suffering from shock and exposure. Three of the 12 men who are missing may be dead. An un- » identified miner reported amid • confusion at the disaster scene ; that he had seen three drowned , men inside. Mine officials, trying to stem the r water’s flow with debris, said r pumping could not begin until the r flow was stopped. The mine en- ; trance slopes down from the side I of a hill. Railway Cut The mine, near the small village [ of Port Griffith, flooded when the » Susquehanna’s waters pushed ' against the bed of a railway until j they had gouged a hole 40 to 50 feet under the tracks. The river t then suddenly burst into the r mine. I One of the rescued, Mr Joe Soltis, aged 43, said: “We never j heard the water come in at all. ; It was just there all of a sudden.” ' The mine superintendent, Mr t Robert Groves, said early today: “There’s a good chance that they s might be alive if they are able to : reach air pockets.” ’ Another of the miners, 25-year- • old Mr John Gustitis, said: “We , walked, walked, walked for hours 3 in water up to our waists.” 3 Another, 43-year-old Mr Myron ’ Thomas, said: “I knew we were J saved when I saw that miner’s 1 lamp coming down the shaft. I yelled to the rescuer wearing it, 1 ran up to him, and kissed him. ...” • Mr Thomas added that when 5 the miners first heard the roar of the surging river and watched its ’ water pour down the shaft, “they 5 got down on their knees and • started to pray.” 1 Another of the rescuers said: “We had to claw our way out like i chipmunks.” But at the mine offices some • miners spoke of panic. Mr Soltis 5 said: “If there hadn’t been any t panic, the rest could have, got out the way I did.”