At the surface this became evident as a house in the village of Moos, under which the mine was located, slowly began to collapse and sink into the sinkhole being formed.
At this time 34 people worked at the Naintscher Mineralwerke, including Georg Hainzl, who was probably buried in a rest-chamber during the first mudslide.
The first miner to be buried, Georg Hainzl, was rescued after ten days and was found in surprisingly good health.
The man who subsequently became Lower Austria's fire chief, Josef Buchta, was heavily involved in the construction of this decompression chamber.
In Austria the lessons from Lassing led to far-reaching changes in mining, rescue technology and information policy.
The anachronistic seeming Leoben Local Mining Office (Berghauptmannschaft) which was responsible in the case of Lassing, was disbanded.
In addition the big mine rescue departments of the nationalized enterprises, which for decades had served nearby small businesses, but had gradually disappeared, were reformed.
At the operational level, a mine rescue service was set up, which is coordinated by the Chamber of Commerce.
Because there was no organized psychological health care at that time for victims and their families, the role was taken on by the local parish priest.
Only the governor, Landeshauptfrau Waltraud Klasnic, who had travelled quickly to the scene of the accident took care of them.
In the wake of the accident there was fierce criticism of both the company's mining methods and the rescue effort.
As a result, there were no up to date plans so that the rescue work often had to rely purely on the oral statements of miners in the wake of the disaster.
The then Minister of Economy Johann Farnleitner was accused of having rejected foreign assistance, which was offered immediately, for too long.