A group of seven men was reached with a drill; when the water level receded on the next day, they could be saved with a float.

The management of the mine was already about to end the rescue operation and call for funeral services, when some miners pointed out that some men would have tried to escape to the Old Man and were maybe still there.

Ludwig Erhard, who had been elected Bundeskanzler just weeks earlier, came to Lengede and spoke to the trapped men, then the real drilling began.

Because of concerns about the poor condition of Old Man, water was considered too heavy for use in the drilling below 40 metres and pressured air was used instead.

Legal proceeding continued for some five years to determine whether anyone was responsible for the disaster, but in the end no one was prosecuted.