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People Trapped Underground (In Mines, Wells, Caves, Etc.)

Lets hope the company can get some fancy kit cheap for use in future projects
 
On the radio this morning (heart FM breakfast show) the presenter said that there had been an unintended happening on the surface - that basically the wives of the Chilean miners gathered... and ended up meeting up with their husbands' girlfriends, also gathering. I haven't heard that anywhere else though.

They also said the miners are getting fussy with food and sending it back up the bore hole.
 
Little_grey_lady said:
They also said the miners are getting fussy with food and sending it back up the bore hole.

I don't blame them. I don't think I could live on astronaut food for more than a day or so.
 
They're coming up now, one at a time. :D
 
A glimmer of light in a dark and evil world. :D :D But i wouldn't fancy being the last one out.
 
titch said:
A glimmer of light in a dark and evil world. :D :D But i wouldn't fancy being the last one out.

But the last one out holds the record!
 
My Grandfather would have loved this story. He was a miner as a young man, starting from when he was 14, until he was in his late twenties. He often worked 18" coal seams, half a mile down and a mile out under the sea. In later life, whenever there was a mine accident, or disaster, in the news, he always followed the story very closely .
 
I knew an old miner once. He told me a lot about it. About testing for firedamp, and pit props shattering and having to be replaced in a hurry. The best thing, in the mines, he told me, was when baths were installed at the pithead, save trunding the dirt all the way home and making a mess for the wife.

It must have been a very tough life (and yes it was the cause of his early death) but he remembered it with fondness. He always kept canaries and had an apple for the ponies down the road, for they reminded him of old times.
 
I've been following this rescue story since last night. It really is the ultimate Good News story.

Several people have commented on how it's like following the first Moon Landing, back in 1969, a thought I'd had myself earlier in the day.

The thing is going so smoothly now, you can see the attitudes of the people involved (both rescuers and waiting relatives) relaxing as the proceedure becomes more and more routine - and long may it continue! (I have all my extremities crossed for good luck...)


Chile has certainly enhanced its international reputation with the efficient organisation of this rescue.

Assuming all continues to go well, they should turn the place into a theme park - I'm sure thousands of people would pay for a trip down to the mine and back up again in the Phoenix capsule (with a wait of say a couple of hours down in the mine before the return trip...) 8)
 
BTW, the beeb reporters have been struggling to describe the pulley block at the top of the lined shaft, used to accurately align the wire cable with the axis of the shaft.

Technically, it's a Snatch Block - a pulley that can be attached to and detached from a cable without having to pull the whole cable through it - which would be impossible with the Phoenix set-up.

So, snatch block - make your own jokes...
 
Woman gets trapped down well for 90 minutes
By Laura Harding
Tuesday, 26 July 2011

A 65-year-old woman who cannot swim spent 90 minutes clinging to a rope after falling into a well full of water.
Denise Brooks, of Abbots Morton, Worcestershire, was trying to free a water pump to fill her duck pond when she fell, leaving her up to her neck in water.

Police, fire and ambulance staff were called to Mrs Brooks's home at 3.50pm yesterday.

Her husband Mike said: "After we'd pumped enough water across we tried to pull the pump back up but it got stuck whilst still under the water.
"When it has happened in the past we have lowered a ladder down the well and Denise has climbed down with a pole and prodded the pump until it has come free.
"The well has been here for around 400 years so we aren't exactly sure what is under the water.
"We did exactly the same thing again this time. Denise climbed down with a pole to try and free the pump. The ladder extends about 30 feet down the well but does not reach the water - there was a gap of 8ft to 10ft from the bottom rung to the water.

"As she climbed down, unfortunately, she slipped and fell into the water.
"We always keep a metal grid on top of the well to make sure that no one falls into it.
"You can imagine what we feel about what has happened. I am just so glad that Denise is all right."

Mrs Brooks added: "It was a real shock and very frightening when I hit the water as I was completely submerged. I can't swim but managed to grab on to the rope to keep myself afloat.
"After a few minutes I managed to calm myself down and wedged myself against the wall and felt comfortable but it was really cold.
"Mike tried to pull me up the 8ft so that I could grab the bottom of the ladder but he couldn't manage so went to call 999.
"I was up to my neck in the water and couldn't touch the bottom. I am just glad that the rope was there otherwise I don't know what would have happened - I dread to think.
"I cannot tell you how pleased I was to see a firefighter being lowered down the well coming to rescue me."

Jerry Penn Ashman, senior ambulance officer at West Midlands Ambulance Service, said: "When our staff arrived, Denise was down the well and holding on to a rope. She seemed remarkably calm considering her predicament.
"Given the length of time that she had been in the water, it was no surprise that she was slightly hypothermic. We warmed her up and thankfully she appears to be none the worse for her experience."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/ho ... 26153.html

90 minutes isn't long compared to the days or weeks in some of the stories here, but in cold water it's long enough! The story doesn't say how wide the well is, but it must have been pretty claustrophobic too. I speak with feeling, having spent just 10 minutes on Saturday with my head and shoulders wedged into a MRI scanner! (Happily I didn't have to use the panic button.)
 
Can anyone help me out with something. I seem to remember reading as a child in the Guinness Book of Records about two men who spent years trapped underground in a bunker. It was only a short entry, they were trapped when retreating Germans demolished it, and when they were eventually released one of the men died as soon as he reached the surface.

Any one else remember this or have any details? Or did i imagine this?

Thanks,

Andy
 
This thread at a WWII forum:

http://www.ww2f.com/wwii-general/35698- ... years.html

... addresses the alleged incident at Babie Doly, Poland.

The primary (English) source is a brief story appearing in TIME magazine in 1951.

The story was picked up by the _Eugene Register-Guard_:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1 ... 41,4601254

... and the _Pittsburgh Press_:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1 ... 103,889837

... and the _Tuscaloosa News_:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1 ... 61,6236627

This May 1958 article from _Der Spiegel_:

http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-41760577.html

... relates the story as the inspiration for another / earlier German film ('Wet Asphalt'?) based on it. As far as I can discern from the (hilariously butchered) Google translation, that 1958 German film treated the 'bunker people' story as a fiction concocted by an unscrupulous journalist which then proliferated as if it reflected a true event.

Someone posting about the book (Jean-Paul Clebert, _The Blockhouse_) at:

http://www.gostak.org.uk/sfbc/blockhouse.htm

... claims the UK edition of the book presented a picture or representation of an article on the Babie Doly guys attributed to _The People_ on June 17, 1951 - the same week the story was published in US newspapers.
 
Chile mine rescue capsule at London Science Museum

The capsule used to rescue 33 miners who were trapped for 69 days in a mine in Chile has gone on display in London.
The steel capsule, 3.9m (12.7ft) tall and 54cm (1.7ft) wide, known as Fenix 2, will be on show at the Science Museum in South Kensington until May.

The 460kg Fenix 2 was one of five built by Chilean Navy engineers to winch up the miners, one at a time.
The 33 men were stuck 625m (2,050ft) below ground when part of the mine in San Jose collapsed on 5 August 2010.

The capsule, which had communication equipment and retractable wheels to help its movement through the shaft, also had enough oxygen-enriched air to last the 20-minute journey to the surface.

Katrina Nilsson, from the Science Museum, said: "I'm sure we can all remember the moment when the first miner was pulled to the surface after being trapped for almost 10 weeks.
"By showing the capsule at the museum, we hope to draw attention to the technical and engineering challenges that the rescue team tackled during this extraordinary operation."

The capsule will be on display until 13 May.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-16993131
 
Poland miners: 19 rescued after earthquake

Emergency services in western Poland have rescued 19 miners who were trapped underground when an earthquake caused a tunnel to collapse.
The workers at Rudna copper mine in Lower Silesia were trapped for about eight hours while rescuers dug through earth and rock to reach them.

The mine is owned by Poland's largest copper miner, KGHM, and has operated since 1969.
A KGHM spokesman said the accident happened 600m (2,000ft) below ground.
He said the rescue operation was "difficult because huge amounts of rocks have to be removed".

The tremor that caused the tunnel to collapse lasted about 10 seconds, the BBC's Adam Easton reports from the capital, Warsaw.
One miner had a gash on his head, but all those who were rescued were fit enough to go home.

The mine is some 400km (430 miles) south-west of Warsaw. Accidents there are relatively uncommon.
Poland has a large number of mines, many of which are located in the industrialised Silesia region, which is rich in mineral and natural resources.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21854873

Cornish copper mines suffered a few disasters down the years, although not earthquake triggered:
http://stjustvingoe.tripod.com/levant_mine_disaster.htm
 
Germany's deepest cave rescue drama near Berchtesgaden

A team is trying to rescue a 52-year-old man injured in a rock fall in a 1,000m-deep (3,280ft) cave in Germany, in an operation that could take days.
The Riesending cave is Germany's deepest and it took one of the man's companions up to 12 hours to return to the surface to raise the alarm.
Some 200 people are involved in the operation, near Berchtesgaden in southern Germany.
The first rescuers reached the man in the vertical cave on Monday.

A second group, including an Austrian doctor used to cave rescues, descended some hours later, Bavarian public TV said. Another team from Switzerland was also reported to be on its way.

The man, who was with two companions on a Whitsun-holiday trip in the Untersberg mountain range, suffered injuries to his head and torso in the rock fall in the early hours of Sunday. Although he was wearing headgear, it was unable to protect him from the weight of the rock.
"He is responsive but he's not doing well," an official told Sueddeutsche Zeitung.
The man was one of the researchers who discovered the cave a few years ago, German media report.

While one of his companions went to seek help, the other stayed with him. He is said to be from the Stuttgart area although authorities have not released his name.

The entrance was found in 1995, but it is only in the past dozen years that explorers have begun investigating the cave system, which is said to be full of ravines and vertical shafts.
The complex nature of the cave system, as well as its depth, is making the operation even more hazardous, officials say.
"We have shafts that go straight down 350m (1,150 ft), where you have to abseil down and climb back up on a rope," Klemens Reindl told German TV.

The initial aim was for alpine experts to set up a base station at a depth of 300m and then establish communications with the rescue team.
Stefan Schneider from Bavaria's mountain rescue said bringing up the injured climber would be even harder than reaching him had been: "You have to imagine it's 1,000m almost vertically, where you have to climb up with ropes and crampons." :shock:
Very few specialists were equipped to deal with such depths, he added.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-27759819

Pics, video, maps, etc on page.

And Good Luck to them - it sounds like they'll need it.
 
rynner2 said:
Germany's deepest cave rescue drama near Berchtesgaden

A team is trying to rescue a 52-year-old man injured in a rock fall in a 1,000m-deep (3,280ft) cave in Germany, in an operation that could take days.

...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-27759819

[Video:]
Germany cave: Trapped explorer rescue under way

A rescue operation is under way for an injured man trapped in Germany's deepest cave.
Johann Westhauser, 52, was badly hurt in a rock fall on Sunday some 1,000m-deep (3,280ft) in Riesending cave.

The rescue could take several days.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-27879283
 
Germany cave: Johann Westhauser 'near surface'

A marathon bid to rescue an injured man from Germany's deepest cave is about to enter its final stretch, officials say.
A team bringing Johann Westhauser to the surface has reached an area near the final base station and will start moving him after a few hours' rest.

Mr Westhauser, 52, was badly hurt in a rockfall on 8 June in the 1,000m-deep (3,280ft) Riesending cave.
For days, the rescuers have carried him through the cave's narrow passages and vertical shafts.

A rescue team of 15 cave specialists and two doctors with Mr Westhauser reached a spot some 400m from the surface on Wednesday morning and were due to pause before continuing their journey.

Fire service officials said the team would rest for about eight hours before negotiating the final phase of the rescue in the cave system close to the Austrian border near Berchtesgaden in the German Alps:

*First they will have to deal with a vertical stretch while being buffeted by water
*Then there will be a wider shaft of some 180m in which ropes and pulleys will be used
*Finally there will be a narrower shaft before they reach the surface

Dozens of rescuers are taking part in the cave operation, from Italy, Austria and Switzerland. Medical checks are being carried out to ensure the injured man is fit for the last part of his long journey. He is described as in a stable condition and able to make hand signs to his rescuers, medical officials say.
Much of the precarious operation has involved rescuers pulling him on a stretcher inch by inch through tight passages.

It took doctors four days to reach Mr Westhauser after he was hit on the head and chest during a weekend holiday trip with two other cave explorers.
One of the explorers returned to the surface to raise the alarm on 8 June while the other waited behind.
It was not until 13 June that the long journey to haul the injured cave explorer to safety began.

The Riesending cave - "massive thing" in German - is in southern Germany's Unterberg mountain range, and Johann Westhauser was part of the initial group that discovered it in the mid-1990s, helping to map it some years later.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-27900710

Fingers crossed for a safe outcome.
 
Riesending rescue: German caver Johann Westhauser surfaces

An injured German caver trapped 1,000m (3,300ft) underground for 12 days has been brought to the surface after a painstaking rescue operation.
Johann Westhauser, 52, is reported to be conscious but the extent of his head and chest injuries is still unclear.
Two doctors accompanied him to the surface and after initial checks he was airlifted to hospital.
He was badly hurt in a rockfall on 8 June while exploring Germany's deepest cave, near the Austrian border.

A medical team and helicopters were waiting as he left the cave at 11:44 local time (09:44 GMT).
Johann Westhauser was eventually hauled out by rope on his fibreglass stretcher

Mountain rescue service chief Klemens Reindl, who supervised the operation, said 728 people from five countries had taken part.
"It was one of the most difficult rescue operations in the history of the mountain rescue service," he said.
"The international character of the mission was remarkable."


Norbert Heiland of the Bavarian mountain rescue service said: ''The injured man has arrived at the clinic in a good state''

The precarious rescue was beset with difficulties because of the deep shafts and narrow passages in the cave.
It involved rest periods in five bivouac stops, followed by a major final hoist up a 180m (600ft) vertical shaft near the entrance to the cave.

A motorised winch could not be used because of the potential risks to Mr Westhauser, and he had to be hauled up manually on a fibreglass stretcher.

etc...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-27922781
 
I've been following this story. I hope he's going to be okay. I admire his rescuers very much.
 
A police dog named Copper has been credited for saving the life of a missing 6-year-old Utah boy who accidentally fell into an open manhole and became trapped underground.

Kollin Bailey presented a large bone and a stocking full of treats to his new four-legged friend, a day after his ordeal in cold darkness about 10ft below ground.

“He saved my life,” the boy told KUTV-TV. ...

http://www.irishexaminer.com/world/quir ... 01610.html
 
A Serbian man is being hailed a miracle survivor after he spent two-and-a-half days stuck down a well in temperatures well below freezing.

Jezdimir Milic left home on Friday morning to buy groceries ahead of Orthodox Christmas the next day, but failed to come home.

He was found some 52 hours later, on Sunday afternoon, trapped down a well while temperatures reached -20C (-4F).

Mr Milic is being treated for hypothermia and abrasions in hospital.

An extremely cold weather front has gripped much of Europe, with authorities declaring an emergency in parts of Serbia. ...

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-38568507?ocid=socialflow_twitter
 
Five Companions Dead German Soldier Buried Alive 6 Years, Lives

WARSAW —(U.P.) —A 32-year-old German soldier who said he had been buried alive for six years in a Nazi supply depot was given a good chance by hospital authorities today to regain his health and eyesight. _ . The six-foot German, who was not identified by authorities at Gdynia’s Akademia hospital, said he and five companions were trapped in an underground German army food and supply warehouse by retreating Nazi troops who dynamited the entrance early in 1945.).

The soldier and one other survivor of the entombment stumbled bearded, blinded and blubbering from the bunker about a month ago when Polish workers cleared wreckage from the entrance to the depot at Babie Doly, near Gydnia. The second survivor dropped dead of shock on emerging into the daylight. The other said two of his companions committed suicide a few months after they were entombed by German troops who did not know the soldiers were in the depot. The trapped men were believed to have been looting. Two others of the trapped soldiers died of unknown causes, the survivor said. Air entered the tomb through an air vent undamaged by the explosion. Water trickled through cracks and the men had plenty of food. But they lived in darkness after their supply of candles was exhausted two years ago. The trapped men had no tools with which to dig their way out of the concrete bunker, the survivor said. He said they washed in Rhine wine and encased their dead in huge flour sacks. The bodies were almost perfectly mummified.

HUGHES SPIKES RUMORS HOLLYWOOD OJ.R)— Howard Hughes said today there is no truth to rumors that he plans to sell his controlling interest in RKO Radio Pictures, Inc...

Extract from:
Madera Tribune, Number 65, 18 June 1951 https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=MT19510618.2.5
 
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Five Companions Dead German Soldier Buried Alive 6 Years, Lives

WARSAW —(U.P.) —A 32-year-old German soldier who said he had been buried alive for six years in a Nazi supply depot was given a good chance by hospital authorities today to regain his health and eyesight. _ . The six-foot German, who was not identified by authorities at Gdynia’s Akademia hospital, said he and five companions were trapped in an underground German army food and supply warehouse by retreating Nazi troops who dynamited the entrance early in 1945.).

The soldier and one other survivor of the entombment stumbled bearded, blinded and blubbering from the bunker about a month ago when Polish workers cleared wreckage from the entrance to the depot at Babie Doly, near Gydnia. The second survivor dropped dead of shock on emerging into the daylight. The other said two of his companions committed suicide a few months after they were entombed by German troops who did not know the soldiers were in the depot. The trapped men were believed to have been looting. Two others of the trapped soldiers died of unknown causes, the survivor said. Air entered the tomb through an air vent undamaged by the explosion. Water trickled through cracks and the men had plenty of food. But they lived in darkness after their supply of candles was exhausted two years ago. The trapped men had no tools with which to dig their way out of the concrete bunker, the survivor said. He said they washed in Rhine wine and encased their dead in huge flour sacks. The bodies were almost perfectly mummified.

HUGHES SPIKES RUMORS HOLLYWOOD OJ.R)— Howard Hughes said today there is no truth to rumors that he plans to sell his controlling interest in RKO Radio Pictures, Inc...


Extract from:
Madera Tribune, Number 65, 18 June 1951 https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=MT19510618.2.5

Any other sources? I find this hard to believe and seemingly a take on the Japanese not surrendering in the jungle routine

edit:

translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=hanswaal.wordpress.com/2008/11/22/bunker-legende-babie-doly-1/&ei=IXXYSurRLpyNjAeoxMniCA&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=9&ct=result&ved=0CCUQ7gEwCA&prev=/search
Link is dead. No archived version found.


Seems very unlikely but I'll keep digging.
 
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Anyone got access to Time? This is where the original source was. I cannot find any other evidence-based links to this, and I'm assuming it would have been massive news?
 
Several here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babie_Doły,_Pomeranian_Voivodeship

And the events inspired a film:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blockhouse

Described as being inspired by a 'possibly true' story; however, it was reported by Time Magazine, which is respectable.

I'm thinking bullshit tbh. Think about it, why this was not mentioned in any Soviet papers and the Brits didn't get hold of it?

The Soviets would have had a field day with this.

Also six years?
 
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