On the fourth day, as the country watched on grainy black-and-white TV, the drill bit punched through. A roar went up from the crowd. But then—silence. Had they hit water? Had they crushed the men?
Finally, after 65 harrowing lifts—over 55 hours of non-stop work—only one man remained. Gill himself.
On the surface, panic erupted. The capsule was stuck on a rock spur. If they pulled harder, the cable would snap. If they lowered it, the man would drown in the rising water below.
But one man refused to accept that verdict.
The crew, sweating through their shirts, manually rotated the huge winch. The capsule scraped free. Sixty seconds later, the old man’s head emerged into the sunlight. He was alive.
was the Chief of Mining Safety for the region. A sardar with a calm, steel gaze and hands that understood rock as well as they understood hope. He had survived mine collapses, gas explosions, and floods. But this was different.
The owner laughed. "How do you get them out? Drill a straw from 150 feet above? They’ll drown before you hit rock."
The plan was insane. Drill a 40-inch-wide vertical shaft through solid rock, directly into the air pocket where the men were huddled. Then, lower a steel "rescue capsule"—a crude, cylindrical cage barely big enough for one man—and haul them up one by one.