History of Europe

Buried Alive:The Misfortune and Miracle of Lengede

In the fall of 1963, Lengede achieved notoriety:129 miners were buried in the mine, only 89 could be saved. Ten days later, the miracle happens:the rescue workers find eleven survivors.

by Astrid Reinberger

Thursday, October 24, 1963:The second shift in the Lengede ore mine near Salzgitter in Lower Saxony is coming to an end, it will soon be 7:30 p.m. Miner Bernhard Wolter wants to finish work on time so that he can quickly get to his five-month-old daughter and his wife. He had actually wanted to take vacation anyway - but the thought of an additional Christmas bonus spurs him on to take on another shift after all. The young electrician Adolf Herbst is in a similar situation - he is to install a pumping system in the Mathilde shaft and has even added an extra shift. Shortly before 8 p.m. he stops working and is exhausted. But he is looking forward to the next day, because he wants to take the day off and prepare for his engagement, which is planned for Saturday.

A deluge of mud and water floods the Mathilde pit

But things turned out very differently for both of them:shortly before 8 p.m., the recently built clearing pond collapsed. Almost 500,000 cubic meters of mud and water flood the Mathilde pit. There were 129 workers in the shaft at the time of the accident. Two buddies can save themselves via the main shaft, 44 via the material tunnel. 33 are pulled through a weather borehole with rope ladders. For Bernhard Wolter, Adolf Herbst and the other miners, however, the situation seemed hopeless. Before their eyes, the water sweeps away everything that gets in its way:tools, wooden wagons, colleagues.

Escape into the "Old Man"

Two days after the accident, the operations management decides to drill holes and look for survivors.

Wolter and Herbst, quick-witted, take refuge in an old track extension. But the water comes here too, so that the men - and 19 others with them - climb from one cave to the next until they finally reach a fracture cavity over a narrow board, a so-called old man. He is six by two by three meters tall. The old cavity is no longer secured, stones are falling from above, oxygen is scarce so that they can hardly stay awake. This is where the men will stay for the next 14 days - buried alive.

Buddy don't give up on the missing

Friday, October 25:Almost 24 hours after the accident, around 7 p.m., seven other miners who were trapped at a depth of 40 meters were rescued by miners who lowered themselves into the shaft again without the permission of the mine management to look for missing people to search. On Saturday, rescue workers and technicians are again brooding over the mine's tunnel sketches. They calculate that air bubbles could have formed at the end of individual tunnels - and that there may be survivors there. The commander-in-chief decides to drill in different places.

Knock signal from 79 meters below

On November 1, three more miners can be rescued, here they climb out of a pressure chamber in which they were decompressed.

Sunday October 27:The first knocks are picked up - three miners are actually in an air pocket 79 meters down, a fourth man who was with them has drowned. Almost 1,000 helpers are now on duty in Lengede - from the Red Cross, the Federal Agency for Technical Relief, the German Armed Forces and the border guards. Never before have so many rescue devices been used:flat drills, large drills, hyperbaric chambers, high-performance compressors and the so-called Dahlbusch bomb, a torpedo-shaped rescue capsule. The salvage work begins feverishly. But it was only four days later, on November 1st, that the three could be rescued. You are exhausted but unharmed.

Mining disaster leads to first live television spectacle

On November 6, 1963, Federal Chancellor Ludwig Erhard (middle) visited Lengede and gave interviews.

For the first time, television - NDR and ZDF - is present live in such a rescue operation. A total of 449 journalists from all over the world report from Lengede. 48 press conferences are held. The NDR helps with spotlights, microphones and intercom systems. But some reporters overshoot the mark and harass desperate miners' families. One tries to get additional information in the rescue workers' tent and is beaten out. The "Bild" newspaper founds a special editorial office and rents an entire inn. The local post office collects a total of 30,000 marks for its services these days.

Eleven men - trapped in darkness

Bernhard Wolter and Adolf Herbst are not aware of this. They are still sitting in the "Old Man", in complete darkness, because their pit lights have long since gone out. But now they have more oxygen, probably coming from a broken line. Again and again there are rock falls, ten of the buddies are no longer alive, some are seriously injured. They are hungry - and above all thirsty. The 20-year-old autumn is the first to drink from the water that surrounds them. water in which corpses decompose. The others fear corpse poisons, wait and see how Adolf Herbst fares - and then drink too. They are desperate, have delusions - but the hope of rescue keeps them alive. Wolter thinks he hears drilling noises. But no one drills above the "Old Man", the noise is an illusion.

The director of the hut has already declared her dead for days, and the funeral service is scheduled for November 4th; 500 marks have been paid to the widows so that they can finance the funeral. The salvage columns have already left. But some of the miners don't give up, they hope that miners could still be alive - in the "Old Man". The mine manager doesn't believe in miracles, but he fears the wrath of his miners and the pressure of the media. He has it drilled again - against his better judgment, as he says. But where exactly the "old man" is underground is not shown on the maps. There are rails where the surveyor thinks is the right spot, so the drilling site is simply moved a few meters in a different direction.

Incredible luck

It is pure coincidence - and unbelievable luck:On November 3rd, 200 meters from the flooded main shaft, exactly the right point was hit. In "The Old Man" eleven survivors suddenly hear real drilling noises, water splashes over their heads. They scan the dark cave, desperate for something to make themselves known. Wolter has a pocket knife in his shoe, with stiff arms he tries to pull it out quickly, he bangs wildly on the metal pipe. For days there was bewilderment about the knocking signals. Then joy. The rescue troops and the equipment are ordered back and the families are informed.

The Miracle of Lengede:Rescued after 14 days

With this "Dahlbusch bomb" the eleven miners were transported from the depths to the top.

The eleven trapped people get in contact with the top through a narrow pipe - it measures just 42 millimeters. First they get a flashlight, then tea, carrot juice. Wolter, the spokesman for the eleven, wants cigarettes - but they don't get them for the time being. It will be several days before they can be recovered. The drilling work must be carried out carefully so that the cave does not collapse. Rock falls again. They crush Bernhard Wolter's ribs. Those trapped can speak to their loved ones via an intercom. When they are told that Federal Chancellor Ludwig Erhard wants to talk to them, they feel like they are being made fun of.

When on November 7th one after the other came up over the Dahlbusch bomb, they were provided with sunglasses and blankets and celebrated like heroes. Sad heroes, because 29 other miners died - there was no miracle for them.

Life after

After recovering, Bernhard Wolter initially accepted the mine management's offer to work above ground. After a while, however, the wages are reduced, so that Wolter is forced to work underground again. He is appalled that he and his wife have to pay back the funeral money. Miners don't earn much money - despite the hard work and the high risk.

On July 10, 1964, the rescued friend married Adolf Herbst.

Bernhard Wolter, like some of the other survivors from Lengede, therefore signs an exclusive contract with the "Stern" and reports on the experiences. Later he also published a book, telling school classes how it happened to him. Bernhard Wolter died in 2003. Adolf Herbst gets engaged after six weeks in hospital - later he celebrates his wedding. He never returns underground.

In Lengede, a memorial on the former mining site commemorates the accident of 1963.