LS -- CRANE, LIFTING COAL CARS



CU -- CRANE, LIFTING COAL CARS



TRUCKS, CARRYING COAL CARS



TRUCKS, DUMPING COAL CARS INTO HOLE



SWIRLING WATERS



NIGHT SCENE -- MEN WORKING AT HOLE



NIGHT SHOT -- COAL CAR FALLING INTO HOLE



MEN CHECKING DEPTH OF WATER IN MINE



PAN -- FROM TRACKS TO FILLED IN HOLE



CU -- FILLED-IN HOLE



BULL-DOZER WORKING



TRUCKS AT WORK



PAN SHOT -- HOLE




Initials



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: THOUSANDS OF PERSONS MADE HOMELESS BY FLOODS IN THE NORTHEAST....TODAY (1/26/59) BEGAN RETURNING TO THEIR HOMES. BUT IN NORTHWEST PENNSYLVANIA SNOWS OF UP TO SIX INCHES AND TEMPERATURES OF ELEVEN DEGREES HAMPERED RECOVERY AND HEICHTENED MISERY.

STATES OF EMERGENCY WERE LIFTED IN MOST STRICKEN AREAS....BUT NOT IN FREMONT, OHIO (CQ), WHERE THREE INCHES OF SNOW FELL AND 15-HUNDRED PERSONS REMAIN HOMELESS.

THE WATERS OF THE SUSQUEHANNA RIVER ALSO ARE RECEDING....MAINLY BECAUSE OF FREEZING WEATHER UPSTREAM. BUT IT IS ALMOST CERTAINLY TOO LATE FOR TWELVE MINERS TRAPPED IN THE KNOX COAL MINE NEAR PITTSTON, PENNSYLVANIA. SINCE LAST THURSDAY....ALL MANNER OF FILL HAS BEEN DUMPED INTO THE YAWNING MAN TO KEEP MORE RIVER WATER FROM FLOWING INTO THE MINE.

COAL MINE CARS....RAILROAD GONDOLA CARS....BOULDERS....DIRT....STRAW....ANYTHING AT HAND HAS BEEN POURED INTO THE HOLE.

THIRTY-THREE OF THE FORTY-FIVE MEN UNDERGROUND SCRAMBLED OUT THROUGH AIR VENTS...........TWELVE DIDN'T. SINCE THEN, BY DAY AND BY NIGHT....THE DESPERATE FILLING OPERATION HAS GONE ON....A PRELIMINARY TO THE ENTRY OF RESCUE CREWS. ONCE THAT IS DONE....PUMPS WILL BE BROUGHT INTO PLAY TO REMOVE SOME OF THE WATER. BUT VIRTUALLY ALL MINE PUMPS IN THE ANTHRACITE AREA ARE UNDER WATER....AND OTHER PUMPS MUST BE BROUGHT IN FROM OUTSIDE.

TODAY THE WATER LEVEL IN THE MINE HAD RECEDED SOMEWHAT, BUT ANOTHER PROBLEM AROSE. AN UNDERGROUND MOVEMENT....PERHAPS A COLLAPSE OF SOME UNDERGROUND CORRIDORS....PERHAPS THE MELTING OF SOME ICE, WHICH HAD FLOWED IN WITH THE WATER....CAUSED THE FILL TO SETTLE.

THE FILLING OPERATION RESUMED..... BUT THERE SEEMED TO BE LESS PURPOSE TO IT. TRAPPED SINCE LAST THURSDAY IN A COLD, WET PIT....EVEN IF THE MEN HAD MANAGED TO REACH TEMPORARY SAFETY IN AN UPPER PART OF THE MINE.....THEY COULD HARDLY HAVE SURVIVED EXPOSURE TO SUCH A COMBINATION OF ELEMENTS.

BUT--THE MEMORY OF SPRINGHILL, NOVA SCOTIA, PERSISTS.