16 Die in West German Coal Mine Blast

A powerful explosion in a coal mine Wednesday killed 16 miners, left about 40 trapped underground and critically injured eight on the surface.

Reports of the number of men initially trapped 300 feet underground near Borken, 70 miles northeast of Frankfurt, varied throughout the day. Some officials put it as high as 58 and others as low as 54.

Gottfried Milde, the Hesse state interior minister, said 56 had been trapped. “Approximately one-third are foreigners, most of them Turks,” he said.

Borken Mayor Bernd Hessler later told a hastily called news conference that the bodies of 16 miners were found and that the search was continuing for about 40 others.

‘Husband Is Down There’

“It’s horrible. My husband is down there; we have two small children,” said Ingrid Henke, 35, before her voice broke and she began sobbing. “I never thought this would happen. . . . My daughters are just 1 and 2.”

The cause of the explosion was not known. There were no reports of miners being rescued alive from the shaft, and officials held out little hope of rescuing the trapped men.

As workers frantically rushed to reach the miners and to pump oxygen into the shaft, wives and children gathered nearby.

Many of the family members were crying and were shielded by other miners from a crowd of onlookers. At their sides were small baskets filled with food, a sign that they planned a long night awaiting word.

Beams, Sheds Wrecked

Around them was the mangled wreckage of the steel beams, sheds and fences that had been blown away by the explosion.

Dense smoke engulfed the area after the blast, which occurred about 12:30 p.m., 30 minutes before the first shift was due to leave the pit. Hundreds of rescuers and several helicopters rushed to the mine.

Gerhard Heinz, an engineer at the scene, said the explosion occurred at a depth of between 200 and 460 feet. It critically injured eight miners on the surface above the mine and left the ground scorched.

Erwin Braun, head of the Hesse state mining council, said he hoped that enough air was left in the shaft to sustain the miners until they could be rescued.

“If there isn’t, it would be hard to imagine them living more than two hours,” Braun told the news conference.

State Interior Minister Milde said the miners whose bodies were recovered appeared to have suffocated in blocked-off galleries about 300 feet underground.

He told reporters that the dead miners had carried no oxygen packs to protect them in sudden pit disasters.

Chances of finding other miners alive were diminishing hour by hour because of high carbon monoxide levels underground, rescue team spokesmen said.

Braun said he could not confirm a report that a small group of the miners had established radio contact with rescue workers.

Radio reports said the accident may have been caused by 4,400 pounds of explosives delivered to the mine recently.