WEST GERMANY FROM THE TOMB WHEN A RESERVOIR BROKE AND FLOODED AN 
IRON MINE NEAR LENGEDE, SAXONY, TWO WEEKS AGO, 79 WORKERS SCRAMBLED 
TO SAFETY, AND TEN MORE WERE RESCUED . THE REMAINING 40, 
ENTOMBED WITHOUT FOOD FOR TEN DAYS, WERE GIVEN UP FOR DEAD 
. THE GIANT OIL DRILL THAT HAD BORED THE RESCUE SHAFTS 
FOR THE OTHERS WAS DISMANTLED AND STARTED ON ITS WAY BACK 
TO THE NETHERLANDS . THE CROWDS OF REPORTERS AND ONLOOKERS DRIFTED 
AWAY . ALL THAT REMAINED WAS TO HOLD A MEMORIAL SERVICE 
. SOME OF THE SURVIVORS INSISTED THAT THE RESCUERS CONTINUE BORING 
EXPLORATORY SHAFTS, USING A SMALLER DRILL . SUDDENLY THE SKEPTICAL RESCUE 
TEAM WAS ELECTRIFIED BY A SERIES OF RAPS ON THE DRILL 
BIT . OVER A QUICKLY LOWERED PHONE LINE, WORD CAME THAT 
ELEVEN MEN WERE ALIVE IN AN ABANDONED GALLERY, 196 FT . 
BELOW . MEMORIAL SERVICES WERE CANCELED AND THE OIL RIG HURRIEDLY 
RECALLED . THERE WERE BREATHLESS PHONE CONVERSATIONS BETWEEN THE MINERS AND 
THEIR WIVES, SOME STILL IN BLACK MOURNING DRESSES . FOOD AND 
TRANQUILIZERS WERE SENT DOWN . CHANCELLOR LUDWIG ERHARD FLEW IN FROM 
BONN BY HELICOPTER AND MADE A LITTLE " GOOD LUCK " 
SPEECH TO THE TRAPPED MEN . SAID HE : " ALL 
GERMAN HEARTS ARE WITH YOU, IN CONFIDENCE THAT YOU'LL SOON AGAIN 
SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY . " AN INVESTIGATION WAS LAUNCHED 
TO SEE IF THERE HAD BEEN NEGLIGENCE AT THE MINE, AND 
THE EAST GERMAN RADIO EVEN MANAGED TO FIND A PROPAGANDA ISSUE 
CAPITALIST CALLOUSNESS . MEANWHILE, THE RESCUE WORK CONTINUED . THE DRILL 
HAD TO WORK SLOWLY BECAUSE OF THE DANGER OF A CAVE-IN, 
BUT EVENTUALLY AND LUCKILY PIERCED THE ONLY SPOT IN THE GALLERY'S 
ROOF THAT WAS SOLID ROCK . JUST 103 HOURS AFTER THE 
ELEVEN WERE HEARD FROM, THE FIRST OF THE MINERS EMERGED FROM 
THE " RESCUE BOMB, " A SORT OF TORPEDOSHAPED ELEVATOR THAT 
HAD BEEN LOWERED INTO THE NEW SHAFT WITH TWO VOLUNTEER RESCUE 
WORKERS . FIFTY-SEVEN MINUTES LATER, ALL ELEVEN WERE MIRACULOUSLY OUT, WEAK 
BUT UNHARMED AFTER 13 DAYS UNDERGROUND . . . . (TRIDOTS) 
BUT MINING REMAINS PERILOUS . WITHIN HOURS AFTER THE GERMAN MINERS 
WERE MIRACULOUSLY SAVED IN SAXONY, A COAL DUST EXPLOSION ON THE 
SOUTHERN JAPANESE ISLAND OF KYUSHU KILLED MORE THAN 300 MINERS AND 
TRAPPED HUNDREDS OF OTHERS . 