50th Anniversary of Pennsylvania Mine Rescue to be Marked

The dramatic rescue of a pair of trapped Pennsylvania coal miners who survived 14 days underground riveted the public’s attention in August 1963.

The Standard-Speaker of Hazleton reports that 50 years later, the Sheppton Mine Disaster is being commemorated with a program near the mine site in northeastern Pennsylvania.

The miners were about 300 feet underground on Aug. 13, 1963, when the mine caved in and trapped them.

Miner Louis Bova became separated from the other two and was never found. But rescuers located David Fellin and Henry Throne after drilling a 6-inch borehole and lowering a light and camera.

Their rescue made international headlines.