Miners Brought To Safety

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31677, 13 May 1968, Page 14

Miners Brought To Safety

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) HOMINY FALLS (West Virginia), May 12. Fifteen coalminers rested in their homes today while rescue workers continued their search for another 10 who were feared drowned when millions of gallons of water flooded a mountainside mine shaft at Hominy Falls last Monday.

As each man stepped from the conveyer belt yesterday, a blanket was draped about his shoulders and he was led to a mobile first-aid station. Most were embraced by friends and relatives.

The 15 rescued miners, soaked to the skin and smeared with grime and coal dust, emerged from the mine yesterday to the cheers and tears of 300 anxious people. After examining the miners, a company doctor Mid they were in better condition than most of the rescuers, other than being “a little stiff at the joints.” Food, coffee, and batteries for their helmet lamps had been lowered to the trapped men through an airshaft drilled into the lOOft-square, 6ft-high chamber in which 15 men were huddled. Thirteen of the men managed to reach a chamber that was dry, but the two others stood in waist-deep water for three days before the flood subsided enough for them to join their colleagues.