Free falling

[R13]

ALLENTOWN, Pa. "? A man survived a 500-foot fall into an abandoned strip mine Friday, astounding rescuers who spent hours on a risky descent into the abyss to bring him back out.

Police said Nathan Bowman was trespassing on coal company property around 1 a.m. Friday when he slipped and fell into the Springdale Pit, an abandoned mine about 700 feet deep, 3,000 feet long and 1,500 feet wide.

Bowman tumbled down a jagged slope and then free-fell several hundred feet, his descent broken by a rock ledge not far from the bottom of the pit, said Coaldale Police Chief Timothy Delaney, who helped direct the rescue effort.

"If you look at that drop, there was no way somebody could survive that," Delaney said.

Bowman, 23, of Tamaqua, was in serious condition Friday night at St. Luke's Hospital in Bethlehem. The extent and nature of his injuries was not clear, although rescuer John Fowler said it appeared he suffered a number of fractures.

Bowman and a friend were walking around the pit when he went over the side. The friend called 911, and Coaldale police and firefighters began a frantic search, according to Delaney.

State police got into the act several hours later, using a helicopter, floodlights and thermal imaging to try to pinpoint Bowman's location in the pit, about 90 miles northwest of Philadelphia.

"It got really, really dangerous," Delaney said. "My guys were fantastic; they were heroes, risking their lives in total darkness."

The search was called off at daybreak. Shortly thereafter, Delaney went to the offices of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Co., which owns the Springdale Pit, to notify officials of the situation.

"I said, 'Let's take a ride over there and show me where it occurred,"' said Fowler, 40, a project manager at the company.

Their luck was better this time.

"Within about three minutes, we found him," Fowler said. "I thought I could hear a muffled call for help. We yelled to him and asked him where he was, and he said he thought he was on a ledge."

Fowler, who moonlights as a state firefighter instructor, and a Coaldale police sergeant scouted a relatively safe route to Bowman and stayed with him until more help arrived.

Two firefighters rappelled down to the ledge, loaded Bowman onto a basket and tied themselves to it. Then all three were painstakingly hoisted up.

Bowman was lucid when he arrived at the top of the pit late Friday morning, wanting his harness loosened, asking that someone call his brother and expressing fear about riding in a medical helicopter, said Sarah Smith, a vice president at Lehigh Coal.

Bowman's survival is "pretty unbelievable," she said. "I think the universe has bigger plans for Nathan. I hope he realizes that."

Bowman faces charges including defiant trespass, according to Delaney.


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,352676,00.html

[imported_elp6n]

To make matters worse, it appears he didn't just fall, but his friend pushed him!
http://www.comcast.net/news/articles...500.Foot.Fall/

Pa. man charged with pushing friend into coal mine

By MICHAEL RUBINKAM, AP
27 minutes ago
ALLENTOWN, Pa. "? A man who called 911 after his friend survived a 500-foot fall at a strip mine was charged Monday with pushing him over the edge.

While Nathan Bowman recovered from broken bones and other injuries in a hospital, Richard D. George was sent to Schuylkill County Prison in lieu of $10,000 bail.

Authorities said in court documents that George, after telling a story that didn't add up, admitted under questioning that he pushed Bowman into the canyon-shaped mine about 1 a.m. Friday after they got into an argument.

George was charged with aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and other offenses. It wasn't immediately clear whether he had an attorney.

Police said the 23-year-olds were trespassing on coal company property when George pushed Bowman off a sheer cliff.

Bowman, of Tamaqua, broke his collarbone and tailbone and suffered injuries to his wrist and ankle when he went over the side of the Springdale Pit, an inactive coal mine about 700 feet deep, 3,000 feet long and 1,500 feet wide.

In a phone interview with The Associated Press on Monday, before George was charged, Bowman said he didn't remember much about the ordeal.

"I just want to say thank you to everyone who rescued me," a groggy-sounding Bowman said from his hospital bed.

Asked how he's doing, he said, "I'm still alive." He added that he's in a lot of pain.

George called 911 and initially claimed that another man had come running out of the mine and "hollered, as he ran by, that someone fell into the pit," according to an affidavit of probable cause. George later admitted pushing Bowman, authorities said.

State police used a helicopter, floodlights and thermal imaging to try to pinpoint Bowman's location in the pit, about 90 miles northwest of Philadelphia, but could not find him in the darkness and called off the search at daybreak, authorities have said.

A short time later, an employee with the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Co., which owns the Springdale Pit, and Coaldale police went back to the spot where Bowman was believed to have fallen and heard him yelling for help.

Two firefighters rappelled to Bowman's location and loaded him onto a basket, and then all three were hoisted out.

While Bowman said he can't recall anything about his tumble, he does remember seeing the police helicopter overhead. He said he might have lost consciousness at some point.

Bowman declined to say why he and George were at the mine so early in the morning. Police have said Bowman faces a trespassing charge.