AMAZING ESCAPE.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20649, 25 June 1935, Page 9

AMAZING ESCAPE.

Miners’ Three Days Uder Water. CAPE TOWN, May 10. After more than three days of feverish efforts, rescue parties in the flooded Machavie gold mine, near Johannesburg, found one European and two natives alive in a box hole, from which the pressure of the imprisoned air had kept out the rising water. Trapped in the depths of the mine, the three men had rushed to this tiny sanctuary. There they remained cooped up below the level of the flood. The natives awaited their doom with stoical calm, convinced that nothing could lie done. All hope of rescue had been abandoned, and forty-three graves had been dug on the hillside near the mine. The rescued white man is Mr W. Anderson. whose wife was transported with joy to see him as he w*as brought to the surface. She had been in bed in a state of collapse following news of the disaster. Exhausted when found in the box hole. Mr Anderson quickly revived. His first request was for a cigarette. The body of the other missing European. Mr H. E. Naude, and those of several natives were recovered later. There are other similar box holes in the mine. Rescue parties are now exploring the lower levels with redoubled energy, hoping that some of the natives max’ have sought refuge in those holes. Continuous pumping was carried on for more than twenty-four hours before the flood subsided far enough to permit the rescuers to descend the mine.