A miner was pulled alive from a talc mine nine days after he was trapped by a landslide. But there was no word on 10 others buried after being sent to his rescue.
Austrian television interrupted its regular programming late Sunday as Georg Hainzl, 24, was hoisted by cables from the 200-foot-deep eating area where he was trapped by a landslide July 17.A second, larger landslide buried 10 other miners who had been sent to rescue him after the accident in the town of Lassing, 120 miles southwest of Vienna.
They are believed to have plunged to the bottom of the mine, which produces the minerals used in refining talcum powder, when the mudslide cut the cable of their emergency elevator.
Floodlights were shut off during the rescue as Hainzl was brought to the surface to avoid damaging his eyes after nine days in darkness.
Hainzl, whose pregnant girlfriend was on hand, was examined by doctors at the scene and injected with fluids. Officials said he drank a quart of lemonade before being transported to a hospital in the provincial capital Graz.
The Austrian Press Agency said rescuers lowered a camera into an emergency shaft earlier in the day. When they saw what they believed was a survivor, the rescuers lowered a microphone.