Aug. 27, 1963 - David Fellin (left) and Henry Throne (right) were lifted to safety early today in Sheppton, Pa. The two coal miners had been trapped 308 feet underground by a mine cave-in for only a few hours short of 2 weeks. The men, wearing greased coveralls to which a parachute harness had been sewn, were hauled up an 18-inch rescue shaft drilled through rock. They held their arms over their heads as rescue workers slowly pulled them up, hand over hand. The rescue workers began lifting the 28-year-old Mr. Throne at 1:53 a.m. Through a microphone, he told them: “You’re picking me up. Boy, what a ride this is!” There were frequent pauses while the rescuers coiled the line that was used to pull him up. During one of them, Mr. Throne said: “I feel like a banana.” He emerged from the shaft at 2:05 a.m., his face black with dust. He blinked in the floodlights and smiled. Mr. Fellin, 58, began his ascent at 2:31 a.m. and reached the surface at 2:40 a.m. Both men were flown to Hazleton State General Hospital, about 10 miles away, in Marine Corps helicopters that had been standing by. Rescue experts planned to start on an escape hole to reach a third trapped miner, Louis Bova. He was in a smaller chamber and had been separated from the two others by 18 feet of fallen rock. He has not been heard from since last Tuesday, and rescue workers do not know whether he is still alive.
