The front page of the Evening Herald, Pottsville, March 8, 1977, reporting on the mining disaster at the Porter Tunnel, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, which occurred on March 1, 1977. Articles from that edition as well as articles from subsequent editions of the newspaper follow here:
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From the Evening Herald, March 8, 1977
OFFICIALS GIVE UP HOPE FOR MINERS
TOWER CITY, Pennsylvania (UPI) — A federal rescue official said the families of five miners trapped in an underground coal mine near here since last Tuesday were told today there is no hope the men are alive.
John Shutack, a federal mine official, said a television camera and intercom lowered into the anthracite mine through a 435 foot bore hole from the top of Brookside Mountain showed no signs of life inside.
“All we could see was timbers, loose coal and other debris,” Shuttach said. “And we heard nothing but the whoosh of air through the chamber and the dripping of water.”
“We also had crews searching the accessible areas of the mine throughout the night tapping on the mine walls and conducting seismic tests to listen for signs of life but there were none.”
“It’s a unanimous conclusion that we don’t believe anyone is alive.”
Tons of water from abandoned workings broke into the Kocher Coal Company last Tuesday. If the five missing men are indeed dead, the casualty total is nine dead and three seriously injured.
The bore hole into the mine was completed at 11:15 p.m. Monday. Progress had been slow because steel casings had to be dropped into the hole and cemented in to prevent collapse.
Shuttack said that at the request of the miners’ families a second bore hole would be dropped into another portion of the mine but that he did not expect it would show anything different.
Federal and state mine safety officials held little hope any of the five men had survived last Tuesday’s accident, when tons of impounded water broke through a tunnel ceiling deep inside the mine, trapping 10 men.
Ronald Adley, 37, the only known survivor, was rescued Sunday after being entombed five days in a small chamber about a mile from the mine entrance. He was reported in good condition in a Pottsville hospital where he was undergoing a series of tests.
Adley said he was saved when the water carried him up a 130-foot breast, but his two buddies didn’t make it and were swallowed by the undertow. The water reached only 68 feet where Adley was, while it was 112 feet in other parts of the mine. Adley just sat it out in the spot until the rescuers dug through the vein of coal from an adjoining breast.
Four other miners were dead in the mine.
Jack Tisdale, a federal mine enforcement safety official, said rescue crews advanced Monday from several locations inside the mine to the place where the missing men were believed to have been working at the time of the accident. The crews found their way blocked by mounds of timber and rock swept along in the flood.
As they advanced the workers tapped on walls with hammers in hopes of receiving an answering “tap-tap-tap” that would indicate one or more of the trapped men were alive. There was no response.
Tisdale said the men “crawled to every area of the mine they could reach.”
Kocher Coal records show the trapped miners are: Timothy Grose, 19, Ashland; Ronald Herb, 32, Valley View; Mark Kroh, 38, Good Spring; Donald Moyer, 44, Ashland; and Dennis Morgan, 30, Valley View.
The miners killed were: Gary L. Klinger, 19, Hegins; Ralph Renninger, 40, Donaldson; Philip Sabatino, 50, Hegins; Donald Shoffler, 42, Gordon.
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From the Evening Herald, March 9, 1977:
MINE DRILLING CONTINUES
TOWER CITY, Pennsylvania (UPI) — Workers today drilled into an unexplored area of an anthracite mine at the request of the families of fie missing miners in the hope of locating the men who have not been heard from for more than a week.
The families of the missing miners have refused to give up hope despite a television camera and a sound detector which failed to show signs of life in the chamber where the men were believed located last Tuesday when tons of water burst through a sidewall and flooded the Kocher Coal Company mine.
“All we could see was timbers, loose coal and other debris,” said John Shutack, a federal Mining and Safety Administration Official after the instruments were lowered through a bore hole.
“And we heard nothing but the woosh of air through the chamber and the dripping of water.”
Shutack said the families were told Tuesday morning there was no chance for “another miracle.” But he said when the families appealed to officials to make another attempt at locating the men it was decided to drill into an unexplored section nearby.
“We had crews searching the accessible areas of the mine throughout the night, tapping on the mine walls and conduction seismic tests tp listen of signs of life but there were none”
“We had one miracle and we were hoping for another bit it’s a unanimous conclusion that we didn’t believe anyone is alive,” he said.
The rescue workers were expected to complete their second last-change attempt by noon today in their search for the men trapped by a massive wall of water that flooded the mine last week.
Ronald Adley, 37, who was rescued Sunday morning after being entombed in an “air bubble” area in the mine for four days was listed in good condition at nearby Pottsville hospital. He has refused to talk to reporters about his ordeal.
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From the Evening Herald, March 11, 1977.
MINE RESCUE WORK CONTINUES
TOWER CITY, Pennsylvania (UPI) — Rescuers seeking to locate five missing men in an underground tunnel of an anthracite mine were forced to bore a third hole through the top of the mine because the missed the designated location on their second try.
Mine officials said they hoped to complete the third bore hole in the Kocher Coal Company min sometime today. Drilling for the third hole began Thursday night.
John Shutack, district supervisor for the federal Mining Enforcement and Safety Administration, said there was little chance the missing men were alive.
Rescue workers dropped a television camera and intercom through the first bore hole Tuesday but found no signs of life. They agreed to drill the second hole at the request of the missing miners’ families.
Tons of water burst through a wall of the mine March 1 [1977], flooding it with timbers and debris. One miner was rescued after being underground for four days. Four other miners were killed and three were injured seriously.
Ronald Adley, the miner who was rescued, was in fair condition in nearby Pottsville Hospital.
Mine officials said three more drilling rigs were en route to the scene to bore additional holes in the top of the mine. Officials said it would take several days to get all of the rigs in operation.
A conveyor was also installed in the mine to removed the debris from the flood so rescue teams could enter the mine from the entrance.
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From the Evening Herald, March 12, 1977:
AREA DOINGS: MINE UPDATE
TOWER CITY, Pennsylvania (UPI) — Rescuers drilled a series of bore holes through the top of the Kocher Coal Company mine today in their continuing effort to locate five missing men in an underground tunnel of the anthracite mine.
The drillers completed a third hole Friday but they struck a vein of coal. A second hole finished Thursday was of no use because drillers missed the designated location.
Mine officials said a television camera and intercom would be dropped into the bore holes when they were completed in an unexplored portion of the mine.
Officials said there was little chance the missing men were alive.
Rescue workers dropped a TV camera and intercom through the first bore hole Tuesday but found no signs of life. They agreed to drill other holes at the request of the missing miners’ families.
Ronald Adley, who was rescued alive after being trapped in the mine nine [sic] days, sneaked out of the Pottsville Hospital on Wednesday, but reporters waiting to see him didn’t learn about it until yesterday.
Adley refused to talk to any newsmen and it was rumored that he had sold his story to the National Enquirer.
Other unconfirmed reports at the scene included friction between state and federal officials over the rescue methods.
Tons of water burst through a wall of the mine March 1 [1977] flooding it with timbers and debris. One miner was rescued after being underground for four days. Four other miners were killed and three were injured seriously.
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From the Evening Herald, March 14, 1977:
STILL HOPING FOR PORTER TUNNEL MIRACLE
TOWER CITY, Pennsylvania (UPI) — A federal mine safety expert says there is still a slim hope a “miracle” might have spared five miners missing since March 1 [1977] when impounded water broke through a tunnel wall and flooded a Kocher Coal Company deep mine.
“The possibilities are slim, but the hopes are high,” said John Shutack, district supervisor for the federal Mining Enforcement and Safety Administration.
“We have not given up hope that they are still alive as some people seem to think,” Shutack said Sunday. “There is still hope that we have a miracle working for us.”
Teams have worked round-the-clock and families have stood a constant vigil outside the mine since the accident, which killed four men and seriously injured three others. There has been one known survivor.
Shutack said the operations will continue “until all the men are located.”
Ronald Adley, 37, was entombed for more than 100 hours before rescuers pulled him to safety, March 6 [1977]. He was admitted to Pottsville Hospital and released after a few days.
From the mine’s surface, rescue teams today continued boring holes into a passageway where the missing men were believed trapped when the underground flood swept logs and debris through the mine, clogging tunnels.
Cameras and microphones were lowered into the passageway to search for signs of life.
Shutack said the missing miners were working on a coal surface approximately one mile inside the mine. He said it was possible they were injured or partially buried and thus unable to signal the coal miners’ universal SOS – three taps on coal – which could be detected by seismic devices used in the rescue operating.
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From the Evening Herald, March 29, 1977:
3 MINERS FOUND DEAD
TOWER CITY, Pennsylvania (UPI) — Rescue workers Monday night pulled three bodies out of the Kocher Coal Company’s Porter Tunnel where a flash flood trapped eight miners March 1 [1977].
The bodies were found 300 feet from a space where Ronald Adley, the only known survivor of the disaster, was trapped underground for five days.
According to Len Rogers of the Mine Enforcement and Safety Administration, the bodies were found on a 10-foot pile of debris in the main gangway of the tunnel, about 8:20 Monday might and were brought out about 11 p.m.
They were identified as: Ronald Herb, 32, Dennis Morgan, 30, both of Valley View; and John Moyer, 44, of 1604 Market Street, Ashland.
Still missing are Timothy Grose, 19, of Ashland and Mark Kroh, 48, of Good Spring.
Fears of relatives that the men have been alive and died of thirst or starvation were allayed by word that the bodies were crushed under heavy timber, rock, coal, mud and other debris washed through the gangway by the avalanche of water.
Rogers said crews were working in the main gangway and ina shaft above and parallel to the gangway, searching for the other bodies, clearing debris and resetting support timbers.
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From the Evening Herald, March 30, 1977:
LAST 2 MINERS FOUND
TOWER CITY, Pennsylvania (UPI) — The bodies of the last two miners trapped in Kocher Coal Company’s Porter Tunnel since March 1 [1977] were found around midnight Tuesday.
An employee oat the tunnel said Mark Kroh, 48, of Good Spring, and Timothy Grose, 19 of Ashland, were found among rubble above the timbers of the main tunnel. They were about 20 feet from where three other bodies were discovered Monday and about 300 feet from where Ronald Adley, the only survivor, was rescued.
John Shutack, spokesman for the federal Mining Enforcement and Safety Administration said autopsies would be conducted on the bodies to determine the cause of death.
Crews are expected to revert to two shifts working now that all the bodies have been recovered. They have been cleaning up debris and resetting support timbers as they moved through the mine seeking the victims of the disaster.
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From the Evening Herald, April 4, 1977:
DOINGS: MINE PROBE
As suspected, the avalanche of water that broke into the Porter Tunnel at Tower City on March 1 [1977] and drowned nine miners came from an abandoned coal hole which was never listed on mining maps.
Not suspected, however, was the fact that the water came not from above, but below the Porter Tunnel gangway, through which it rushed with sudden ferocity. A team of investigators during the weekend found that the water broke through the bottom of the gangway at a point where the slope of the water-filled bootleg hole came close enough for the pressure of the water it to be sufficient to “blow” out the seam of coal.
State law requires that miners drill small holes at least 230 feet in advance of any tunnel to test for any such impounded water. The Porter Tunnel miners adhered to this requirement as work advanced forward and upward, but the investigating team found no evidence of any test holes having been bored downward at the point of breakthrough.
A hole 8 by 26 feet was found in the bottom of the gangway where the water pushed it out.
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From the Evening Herald, April 13, 1977:
MINING RESUMES
Five weeks after a flood took the lives of nine mine workers at Tower City, operations have resumed at the Kocher Coal Company’s Porter Tunnel. Federal Mine Officer John Shutack said the operations are limited to sections not affected by the March 1 [1977] flood. Two shifts are being operated with 130 men. Meanwhile, a New Hampshire firm, Geophysics Systems, Inc., is at the tunnel with sophisticated radar and electronic equipment to seek out the areas where the flood broke through the tunnel floor. It’s the only device of its kind in existence, Shutack said.
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From Newspapers.com.
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