The Lake Peigneur Giant Sinkhole Disaster 1980

Comments · 3.1K

• HE

  @heliosdelsol · 4 years ago

  It is so incredible that no one died. Had that electrician not gone and checked that noise when he did, all 55 miners could have easily perished.

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• TH

  @TheBuckStopsHere480 · 4 years ago

  It's ludicrous to call this a "natural disaster." It was human error, made while performing a human activity, above a mine dug by human hands.

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• BA

  @badpiggies988 · 3 years ago

  Can we all just appreciate how all the miners were able to survive, making their way up the slow elevator even as a lake was falling on them

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• PE

  @Peekeon05 · 4 years ago

  I am absolutely stunned that none of the miners were killed. It seemed like everything about this disaster was working against them, it really is a testament to how important it is to train employees on what to do during an emergency.

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• GR

  @GregPourciau · 4 years ago

  It's amazing how twisted and wrong this story has gotten ,I was a  20 year old Electrician ,June Gaddison was my boss ,smoking in the mine was prohibited and he had walked out of area (1000')where our storage and lockers where to smoke a cigarette and he did hear fuel barrels banging around and shined his headlamp down the room (crosscut is another way to say it) and saw water pouring over a salt barricade across room to prevent people going into old parts of the mine and he came running back to our shop and hollering ,he did blink or switch off and on main power to mine below , Earl the footman(last name escapes me Brave man he received an award) on our shift jumped on his tractor and went down to make sure word got to them ,some ran to shaft and to mechanic shop to warn them and to call cage down ,they had trouble get the hoist operator because at that time he was talking to drilling company who had called to tell them to evacuate us from the mine ,we started using backup call buzzer which buzzes in hoist control room by the time the cage got down we could see water coming down the room and wiping out the main telephone backboard ,I was shoved onto cage and 11 or 12 of us got out ,the miners already down in the 1300' level (we only had just started ramps down to 1500') they couldn't call on phones so they traveled up the ramps with whatever could move with 2 front end loaders in front what kept water back was the rise in elevation of the room the leak started kept the water contained till they got to that level and assembled at emergency designated point and sent people to try to get to main shaft (cage) and also to emergency shaft (air shaft smaller cage could be sent down) used back up phone wind up phone and were told to try to go up old ramps to next level which they did using front end loaders to clear road of fallen scales so smaller vehicles could pass they proceeded to be taken up to surface the only injury was to office(mine) clerk she tripped and fell on a scale they had a tendency to remove there battery and lights (heavy, she was a very tiny lady) and yes everyone couldn't believe how close they started drilling it was not far from our barge dock but they did have wells all over the area and yes it was reported that when the lake drained in the canal started pulling water from the gulf ,shrimp boats in Delcambre were sitting in the mud and the cages and skips sitting and plugging shafts where heard to travel up 7 story mill building and hit there pulley block at top of mill that's all I remember.

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• MR

  @mrknt2929 · 3 years ago

  That electrician had that amazing intuition to alert all 55 miners, and that one miner as well, who went to get the other miners who weren&apos;t able to catch the signal.<br><br>Its evidently significant how good training weilds benefits.

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• RA

  @rationalbacon5872 · 4 years ago

  The smartest person involved in this event was the genius who &quot;lost&quot; those documents in the sink-hole. Pure Machiavellian brilliance 👌

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• CA

  @CajunRican · 3 years ago

  Randy LaSalle died a few years ago. I knew him well and still miss his energy and &quot;Here I am; send me!&quot; attitude. Absolutely lovely person.

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• IM

  @imsatanscott · 4 years ago

  So, you&apos;re telling me a group of rich dudes decided to drill an oil hole in the middle of a beautiful lake knowing full well that there was a mine under it? &quot;tRuSt mE i&apos;M aN EnGiNeEr&quot;

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• MO

  @moustachepanda · 4 years ago

  It&apos;s amazing that no one died in this incident. Kind of a relief in comparison to most of the other disasters you&apos;ve covered.

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• WB

  @wbnc66 · 4 years ago

  I worked at a mine that was just being opened. There were old mines in the area that were supposed to be separated by ten or so meters of solid rock. as they begin to actually cut new tunnes int the rock face they got back several hundred meters and their multi-ton mining machine simply vanished down a hole. the stone had collapsed and eroded after the old mines were closed until only a few feet of sandstone and shale separated the floor of the new tunnel, from the void below. &nbsp;The operator was a distance behind the machine, using a remote control linked to the machine by a control bundle of cables. fortunately for him, it was fitted with a quick disconnect to keep him from being pulled into the machine if the cables snagged. or the machine fell forty or fifty feet into a hole that wasn&apos;t supposed to be there.<br><br>By the way, coal miners are capable of impressive speed when they are running for their lives Usain Bolt would have been impressed. I was outside at the time and set a personal best in the &quot;Hundred-meter get the %*@ out of Dodge&quot;

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• 2T

  @2teethPogZa · 3 years ago (edited)

  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcWRO2pyLA8&amp;t=553">9:13</a> I laughed so hard at this<br><br>imagine being a tour guide in that part of Louisiana and you mention &quot;for about 40 hours our highest waterfall in Louisiana was a 150ft waterfall in Lake Peigneur&quot; and you tell them one of the greatest stories a person could tell...

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