TERRIBLE SUFFERINGS OF MINERS.

Inangahua Times, Volume XVI, Issue 20226, 20 April 1891, Page 4

TERRIBLE SUFFERINGS OF MINERS.

♦ ENTOMBED FOR 116 HOURS. The three men who were imprisoned early in February in a chamber of the Husquehnnna mine of the Wilkeshnrre Colliery i-y the flooding of the work Wigs Imve- ht-en rescued arVr an enevand exciting search. They were found in the upper woikings near "the outcrop, sitting upon a piece of lumber wood. They had managed to struggle to this spot through the rushing water*, which at some points reached their necks, and from one moment to another threatened to carry them away. They remained entombed 115 hours, and their suffering during that period was intense. Two of them became delirious, and their companions experienced the utmost difficulty in controlling them. At 3 o'clock in the morning the rescuers, who had been working continuously night and day heard a faint voice, and, listening intently, they caught the words, "For God's sake, hurry !" This appeal was responded to with a will, and in a few moments the repcuers" had almost reached the imprisoned trio. A raft wbb hastily constructed, and a number of men upon it grouped their way through the darkness to the spot where their three comrades were had died together. The exhausted men were safely conveyed to the top of the pit, where a touching scene was enacted. They were immediately surrounded by their feHow-workmen and friends, many of whom manifested ihe rudest delight, hupging and kissing i.he rescued pitmen and congratulating them upon their escape. Although ureatly reduced by hanger and thirst, »* well as by the n>ental agony they had undergone, the men, having been supplied with miik and other restoratives, quickly recovered their strength, aud are now out of danger.