Lengede is a municipality in the district of Peine , in Lower Saxony , Germany , some 18 kilometers southwest of Braunschweig and 40 kilometers southeast of Hanover . It became known to the world in 1963 because of a mining disaster and the subsequent rescue operation of eleven surviving miners, which became known as the " Wunder von Lengede " ("Miracle of Lengede").
25-458: Lengede consists of the following districts A lot of water was needed to wash the ore of the iron mine Mathilde in Lengede, and several artificial lakes existed right above the underground mine. At 8 p.m. on 24 October 1963, water and mud from one of those lakes broke into the mine. At that time, 129 men were working underground. Seventy-nine men managed to escape right away. A group of seven men
50-465: A sedimentation pond had broken its ground and the tunnels between the 60-metre (200 ft) and 100 m (330 ft) levels . Out of 129 workers, 79 escaped during the first few hours. They used underground mine ventilation raises and further shafts which had been provided with ladders due to safety regulations. At first there seemed to be no hope for the remaining 50 miners. Several attempts and deliberations about possible rescue positions within
75-499: A central place 50 m away from the borehole and was using the phone line of the local railway station inn to report from the car. Others, especially press people, were less lucky. A French press journalist, Jean Yves Grandmange was beaten 5 times while attempting interviews. Because special equipment provided by different TV and radio stations was also used to provide communication with the miners, these reporters received privileged access. Chancellor Ludwig Erhard personally visited
100-541: A compressor. After a few more days of drilling rescue access holes, the 11 miners were brought to safety on 7 November after being trapped for two weeks. They were rescued from a depth of 59 metres (194 ft) via a 52.2 centimetres (20.6 in) diameter shaft, using a device called Dahlbusch bomb . The remaining 29 workers had died; 19 were killed directly in the disaster, 10 in the aftermath while awaiting rescue. There were some harsh discussions about why and whether this last resort had not been suggested earlier. As it
125-614: A two-part television film titled Das Wunder von Lengede (or A Light in Dark Places [ de ] ) was produced by German television station Sat.1 . The film was written by Benedikt Röskau based on the recollections of one of the rescued miners. It was directed by Kaspar Heidelbach and featured Heino Ferch , Jan Josef Liefers , Günther Maria Halmer [ de ] , Heike Makatsch , Axel Prahl , Uwe Rohde , Armin Rohde , Klaus J. Behrendt and Thomas Heinze . It
150-465: The Alter Mann as water was rising in the newer parts of the mine. By the time the drill came down, only 11 had survived in extreme circumstances of falling rock, debris, wounded and dying comrades and different water levels. They had only a bottle of tea with them and the batteries of their helmet lamps had to be rationed. Due to the instability of the region, drilling was done in the final parts with
175-473: The Alter Mann . The turn of events, with the various dramatic efforts to reach and rescue the survivors, attracted international media attention. There was stiff competition between the 365 press people and 83 journalists and technicians of TV and radio stations. The reporters used fixed telephone lines temporarily provided and leased by the inhabitants of Lengede. Press reporter Gerhard Mauz and his Volkswagen beetle got celebrity status, since he had occupied
200-575: The Dahlbusch Bomb. Wunder von Lengede On 7 November 1963, 11 West German miners were rescued from a collapsed mine after surviving for 14 days, an event that later became known as the Wunder von Lengede ("miracle of Lengede"). On 24 October 1963, the Lengede -Broistedt Iron Mine near Salzgitter was flooded with 500,000 cubic metres (18,000,000 cu ft) of muddy water after
225-435: The device across long distances. At Zeche Dahlbusch, the device was successfully used to rescue three miners, trapped at a depth of 855 metres (2,805 ft) after a mine collapsed, through a vertical borehole drilled 42 metres (138 ft) from the next-higher mine level. The 15.2-inch diameter would need its passenger to have his shoulders hunched up or his arms vertical above his head, and not be obese or very muscular. The device
250-474: The falling water level, they sent a message to the surface, they would try to escape on their own. Four foremen from above secretly took the initiative to meet the men halfway with a makeshift float and get the men back to the surface. It had been calculated that four more workers could have survived in an air bubble on their working place. A bore hole drilled to that section revealed life signs. These miners (only three had actually survived) had to be brought to
275-465: The mine and the successful rescue of miners at the one or other locations gave rise to a sequence of dramatic and technically challenging rescue missions with hitherto unseen worldwide media coverage. After one day, seven more miners could be located with a small access bore hole close to the Hauptbremsberg, a central transport hub in the mine. While broader rescue drilling was under-way, due to
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#1732794450339300-475: The mine site and spoke with the miners. Erhard had formally obtained permission from his cabinet members to skip normal duties and visit the site. Over 450 journalists from all over the world were present when the last miners were rescued. This event, along with the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II 10 years earlier, became a hallmark for early TV coverage of events with international interest. The rescue
325-435: The mine were available, and an exploratory drill was started. Fifty-six metres underground, a cavern was reached. Tapping signs were heard, and the rescuers let food, water and even a microphone down to the men below. Ludwig Erhard , who had been elected Bundeskanzler just weeks earlier, came to Lengede and spoke to the trapped men, then the real drilling began. Because of concerns about the poor condition of Old Man , water
350-502: The mine, known as the Old Man , which was not used anymore and had already partly collapsed. Falling rocks killed several men there, ventilation was poor, and after a while their lamps went dark. The management of the mine was already about to end the rescue operation and call for funeral services, when some miners pointed out that some men would have tried to escape to the Old Man and were maybe still there. No exact plans for that part of
375-490: The surface through an escape hole while significantly high pressure was maintained to avoid decompression sickness and a return of the water. The rescue operations were led by several groups of experts, the medical team led by Dr. Wünsche, an aviation medic. The miners received games, cameras (copies of the photos were returned to them) and a special diet. Various communication channels to friends and loved ones were established. After their rescue on 1 November, rescue equipment
400-467: Was absolutely forbidden to enter this area, but workers now and then had a look at Alter Mann areas or used them to take a rest or shortcut. The suggestion led to a final hole being drilled down to this highly dangerous and unstable area of the mine. When contact with a new group of 11 survivors was established via hammer signal, newspapers and media worldwide began to speak of a miracle. As the experienced rescuers had hoped, more than 20 miners had fled into
425-839: Was called a "bomb" because of its shape. The Dahlbusch Bomb was developed in May 1955 at the Zeche Dahlbusch coal mine in Gelsenkirchen in Germany 's Ruhr area to rescue three miners. Thirty-four-year-old engineer Eberhard Au sketched it on a leaflet. Au, who never applied for a patent, was quoted as saying "the main thing is, the lads get out". Its distinguishing feature was the small diameter of only 38.5 centimetres (15.2 in), which allows miners to be evacuated through significantly smaller boreholes than using other evacuation devices, and whose shape also helps in raising and lowering
450-483: Was considered too heavy for use in the drilling below 40 metres and pressured air was used instead. At 6 a.m. on November 7, the men were reached. Two miners went down with the Dahlbusch-Bombe to help their colleagues come up. Eleven men were rescued. All in all, twenty-nine men died in the disaster. When the mine was later cleared, it was found that some of them had lived for about 14 days underground. One man
475-511: Was moved off-site, as there seemed to be no hope for the remaining men. A memorial church service for the missing men was already scheduled for 4 November. However, a worker called Hütter, whose long year foreman was among the missed, suggested on the previous Sunday to the technical director Ferling a further escape zone. This last escape resort was in an abandoned part of the mine, in German : Alter Mann ("old man"). Under normal conditions, it
500-478: Was never found. Legal proceeding continued for some five years to determine whether anyone was responsible for the disaster, but in the end no one was prosecuted. Dahlbusch Bomb A Dahlbusch Bomb is an emergency evacuation device for use in mining . In its original form it is a torpedo-shaped cylinder with a length of 2.5 metres (8.2 ft), developed to transport trapped miners through boreholes after mining accidents . It does not contain explosives : it
525-470: Was of utmost importance to protect the air pocket, pressured air was pumped down. After six days, three men were finally rescued; a fourth had died in the meantime. The men were brought up with the Dahlbusch-Bombe , a tiny metal pipe which allows one man to stand inside. They had to spend several hours in a pressure chamber before being released. A group of twenty-one men had fled to an old part of
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#1732794450339550-416: Was reached with a drill; when the water level receded on the next day, they could be saved with a float. Four men went to the elevated end of a gallery; even though it was below water level, the air pocket there prevented the water from entering. Expecting to find men there, a drilling was begun to the cavern some 79 meters below ground. In the meantime, journalists from all over the world had assembled. As it
575-404: Was revealed later, rumours about the Alter Mann as a possible refuge had been raised as early as two days after the flooding. However these had not been taken into account till the formal attempt by Hütter. Der Spiegel described some rumours about East German involvement against critics as well a sort of psychological barrier between different hierarchy levels as reason for the late search in
600-595: Was the first significant news story to receive current daily "breaking news" television coverage, and it made watching the Tagesschau a sort of ritual in Western Germany. In 1969, Rudolf Jugert made the first movie about the events. Several TV documentaries have been shot as well, such as Das Wunder von Lengede oder Ich wünsch' keinem was wir mitgemacht haben in 1979 by ZDF and Das Drama von Lengede, Protokoll einer Katastrophe in 2003 by WDR . In 2003,
625-570: Was used again in 1956 and 1957, but gained further prominence on 7 November 1963, when eleven miners were rescued after two weeks trapped at a depth of 58 metres (190 ft) in the iron ore mine in Lengede , Germany, in what is known in Germany now as the Wunder von Lengede ("Lengede Miracle"). The "Phoenix" ( Fénix ) evacuation devices used in the rescue of 33 miners after the 2010 Copiapó mining accident , in Chile , are an enhanced version of
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