Delays In Bid To Rescue Miners

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30215, 21 August 1963, Page 15

Delays In Bid To Rescue Miners

( A'.Z.P. A .-Reuter —Copyright)

HAZLETON (Pennsylvania), August 20.

Rescue workers continued their desperate efforts today to sink a life-saving shaft to three coal miners trapped 400 ft underground since last Tuesday, the Associated Press reported.

Concern over one of the trapped men led the weary rescue teams to a new effort last night to drill a six-inch hole parallel to the one through which they originally established contact with the men.

They gave up on their first attempt when the drill bit went past the depth where Louis Bova, aged 42, was believed to be. Bova is senarated from the other two miners— David Fellin. aged 58, and Henry Throne, 28.

The workers could not start an escane hole for Mr Fellin and Mr Throne because it was impossible to move a rig with a larger drill to the area until bulldozers could create a road about 440 yards long. “I’m quite concerned about Bova." said the State Minins Secretary. Mr H. B. Charmbury. Rescue workers were drilling the twin hole with guidance from Mr Fellin through a microphone lowered down the original six-inch shaft. Mr Fellin has said Mr Bova was about 25 feet from him and Mr Throne, behind a pile of debris. Several ‘irnes he has reported Mr Bova was injured slightly At other times he has said Mr Bova was out of touch, only to report later that Mr Bova had been sleeping The rescuers initially planned to drill the escape shaft to Mr Fellin and Mr Throne and to place a second sixinch shaft in the area where Mr Bova was reported It took 22 hours to drill the first hole. The hole toward Mr Bova was abandoned about 7 p.m. yesterday. Shaft “Too Deep”

The Denuty State Secretary of Mines. Mr Gordon Smith, asked why the shaft was abandoned, said: “It's too deep.” By that he meant that the drill had gone past any possible area where Mr Bova might be—based on the known depth of the mine at that point, Associated Press explained. Mr Smith said he was concerned about Mr Bova's safety but there was no particular significance in the abandonment of the hole aimed at Mr Bova's area. He said the drill would be pulled up and restarted He said the drill apparently had veered away, following rock strata. About an hour before the hole was abandoned, Mr Fellin was asked again about Mr Bova. “I think he’s on the other side of the debris." Mr Fellin replied. He did not volunteer any further information, nor did the rescue workers—who have expressed concern over the morale of men trapped so long underground—press him New Cave-Ins Feared Experts said it might take 72 hours to a week to drill an escape hole large enough for the men to come out They expressed concern over the possibility of new caveins The three men were found late on Sunday night “We’re all okay,’’ shouted Mr Fellin when the first voice contact was made shortly before midnight on Sunday. He told relieved families and rescuers they had kept themselves alive by drinking sulphurous water from a stream running through the mine. “Since I've been drinking that stuff I have no more belly aches.” he said. Slept First Soup, medical supplies, head lamps and a requested cigar were lowered to them Relaxed now that contact with the outside world had been made, the trapped men held up the projected drilling of an escape hatch while they took a nap. The district mine inspector, Mr Ralph Ditzler, asked Mr Fellin to tell him where to dig the planned 28in-diameter escape hole “But he said ‘No. no. we’ve got to get some sleep before you start’,’’ Mr Ditzler reported. . So, for hours then men slept below while rescue work came to a standstill

When Mr Fellin finally awakened he gave Mr Ditzler and the others instructions

where to dig. He told them net to worry about hitting him or Mr Throne since they had about nine feet in which to manoeuvre. Drilling Dangers One of the problems In the drilling operation is that the auger drill—just like the one a carpenter uses in wood —carries a certain amount of debris with it. When it cut into the chamber, experts estimated, about 27 tons of cuttings would be pushed into the opening. While the hole was being bored, Mr Fellin and Mr Throne were busy shoring the area with wood to try to prevent any further cave-ins and to catch the cuttings from the drill bit.

Mr Fellin said he could hear the grinding of the drill. On the surface, workers could hear over the amplifier the sounds of the two men working. Experts said they would try to bore where the rocks and coal deposits were the heaviest, to help avoid a new cave-in. As the hole gets deeper, it will be shored up with steel casing. At first, rescuers were stopped daily in their efforts to reach the men by recurring rock falls and of deadly gases. Then on Saturday, special “pitchmen,” trained in working sloping mines, checked the nearly vertical mine shaft, gauged the angle, and with

amazing precision drilled into the miners’ chamber. The trapped men reported they had plenty of fresh air. They said the air apparently entered the chambers in which they are trapped from vent holes drilled eight years ago to drain water that filled the mine during a hurricane. The three men Went into the mine last Tuesday to work about 30 feet from the bottom. Mr Throne and Mr Fellin worked a coal vein on one side of the main slope, and Mr Bova worked the other side. Suddenly, the men were alerted by breaking timbers and falling rock, dirt and coal. They ducked into horizontal shafts as far as they could go. The fall stopped as debris apparently became wedged in the slope above them. This was one of the obstructions that rescuers working down the slope encountered.

Indonesia To Sign

(N.Z.P. A.-Reuter—Copyright) DJAKARTA, Aug. 20. Indonesia had decided to sign the nuclear test ban treaty, the Foreign Minister (Dr. Subandrio) said today. Indonesia’s Ambassadors in Washington, London and Moscow were expected to sign the treaty in the various capitals next Friday.