Das Wunder von Lengede (2003)

The film tells the story of the dramatic rescue of 11 miners who see daylight again after a mine disaster and 14 days in total darkness. The story begins on the eve of the disaster. Longwall foreman Franz Wolbert and his friend and fellow crew member Bruno Reger spend a carefree evening with their wives at a dance. The next day, the men meet again in the mine’s changing house, where an argument breaks out with two other colleagues, but shift boss Pit Spieker settles it. They go underground. In the management office, mining engineer Harald Hansen tells his boss, Dr. Dietz, that he doubts the tunnel is far enough from a very large underground water pocket. Dietz dismisses his concerns, saying Hansen needs to think about profitability. In the longwall, the crew is just preparing to blast when what they feared happens: A wall gives way, water forces its way through and floods the passages at depths of 60 metres and below. When the power goes out, the crew sets off back, but the floodwaters cut off their route. Their only apparent escape is the Old Workings, a section abandoned long ago and closed off because of the high risk of collapse. More miners join them, including the shift boss, who loses his footing and is swept away by the water. Just before the group reaches the safety of the section, a heavy support prop driven forward with great force breaks both of Bruno Reger’s legs. In the Old Workings, the group helps one another climb higher until the water stops rising. After that, however, chunks of rock repeatedly break loose from the roof, tumble down on them and injure many of the miners. Above ground, family members gather outside the mine gates, while the bodies found during the rescue efforts are laid out inside. When no one else is found, Director Dr. Dietz orders exploratory drilling in the area of the active mine, but it proves unsuccessful. Days pass. Just as all hope is fading, engineer Hansen suggests that some miners may have taken refuge in the Old Workings. An exploratory borehole is drilled for that reason and, at the calculated depth, it does indeed reach a void. Below, the tenth day has begun. The miners have almost given up hope, and there have already been several, partly successful suicide attempts, when a drill bit appears after another cave-in. Almost apathetic, the miners can hardly believe their luck. Above ground, all is quiet as drilling-team leader Jürgen Grabowski listens at the drill rods for tapping signals. Meanwhile, it becomes dramatically clear to the miners below that they need a hard object to make themselves heard above. So no one hears anything on the surface, and Dr. Dietz orders all rescue operations to be halted. The drill rods are pulled back and disappear, to the miners’ utter despair. But the drilling-team leader takes it upon himself to make a second attempt at the same spot. The rods reappear—this time without the drill bit—and at last the desperate tapping signals are heard. A note bearing the names of the eleven surviving trapped miners is pulled up on a rope, and the mourners gathered in the church are informed, bringing immense joy to their families. Renate Reger can hardly believe her good fortune either, so the mine’s first-aid doctor, Dr. Schleip, can barely get through to her: Both her husband’s legs are badly injured, and because he is forced to remain immobile, his life is in danger unless he is brought out quickly. In the management office, too, the discovery brings only limited joy—especially for Dr. Dietz—when they realize they have no means of rescuing the miners under these conditions. A rescue borehole of sufficiently large diameter requires flushing water, and its 50-metre column would trigger a catastrophic wave of pressure and mud in the unstable Old Workings when the breakthrough finally occurred. Only a method not yet tested under these conditions, compressed-air flushing, could make the rescue possible, but its success is uncertain and the necessary equipment is available only abroad. Nevertheless, the drilling begins conventionally, while the situation below rapidly worsens, especially for Bruno Reger. Supplied with essential provisions through the narrow exploratory borehole, the miners are able to communicate with their families using an improvised intercom. During a conversation with his wife, Franz Wolbert is struck by a large piece of rock, but survives. At last, the equipment arrives from Belgium, and the rescue borehole is completed quickly, though Bruno Reger does not live to see it. With a roar, the large drill bit breaks through. Another agonizing few seconds pass before the miners below find their voices again and the rescuers above learn with relief that the fragile refuge below has indeed finally collapsed after all. One by one, the miners squeeze into the narrow Dahlbusch rescue capsule and are hoisted individually up through the shaft. Overjoyed, Helga Wolbert and the other family members can embrace their men again.