11 Rescuers Feared Dead When Effort to Free Miner Fails

Tons of sliding mud snapped the cable of an underground elevator in an Austrian talc mine, stranding 11 men who were trying to rescue a trapped miner, state radio reported Saturday.

Mine officials said they were hopeful that the first trapped miner--who was caught in a mudslide on Friday--could be dug out alive, but the chances of survival for the other 11 miners appeared slim.

“For them, it is feared to be too late,” Austrian radio reported. “They are believed to be buried in mud and water.”

Walter Engelhardt, manager at the talc mine in Lassing, about 125 miles southwest of Vienna, said the 11 rescuers had drilled a hole into the shaft where the miner was believed to be trapped. The rescue workers then hoped to establish contact with him, but a mudslide broke the cable of an underground elevator in which they were descending, sending it plunging into the depths of the mine, state radio reported.

A camera introduced through a narrow opening dug by subsequent rescue crews Saturday showed the area flooded with water.

Engelhardt said the second slide in the mine came as a surprise because the shaft was believed to be safe for the rescue team to enter.

Several houses in the area were destroyed by the slide and the electricity supply was briefly cut, delaying rescue work and prompting authorities to evacuate some people in the neighborhood, state radio said. The mudslides left a crater 150 feet deep and about 450 feet wide.