Adrian Frater, News Editor

'Bones', a resident of Ulster Spring, Trelawny, pointing into the 200-foot sinkhole from which he and other residents rescued Deacon Ewin 'James' York yesterday morning. - Photo by Adrian Frater

WESTERN BUREAU:

As a deacon, 85-year-old Ewin 'James' York has on several occasions told the miraculous biblical stories of Daniel in the lion's den and Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace. What he did not know was that he would one day be telling a story about his own rescue.

However, after falling into a 200-foot 'sinkhole' and being trapped underground between Saturday evening and early Monday morning, Mr. York, of Ulster Spring, Trelawny, now has more than enough reason to be thankful to God after being rescued from what could well have turned out to be his final resting place.

It all began on Saturday, shortly after 6:30 p.m., when the senior citizen, on his way to visit a friend, decided to take a familiar shortcut through some bushes. He took a wrong turn in the twilight and fell feet first into the hole, which was situated along the path he had taken. Trapped between two rocks in the dark underground, he cried out for help but nobody heard him.

"During the first night, rain fell and wet me but I never lost hope and kept praying to God to send someone to rescue me," said Mr. York, who is a deacon at the United Pentecostal Church in Ulster Spring.

"On the second night when I heard the thunder rolling I began praying again because I realised that if the rain fall heavy, I could be washed away. Thank God it never rained heavily."

On Sunday, when Mr. York, who lives alone, did not show up at church as is customary, his children, who live elsewhere in the community, went to his house to search for him. Not finding him, they immediately raised an alarm, and launched a manhunt with residents.

On Sunday afternoon, a woman, believed to be of unsound mind, told the search party that she had seen Mr. York walking through the shortcut and told them that there was a sinkhole in the area.

The search party went to the hole and called out Mr. York's name. But their search was fruitless.

"We went back to the hole on Monday morning and started calling his name again," said Mr. York's son Michael. "This time when we call his name, we heard a sound coming back from deep into the ground."

Realising that Mr. York was trapped underground, the residents first dropped a 100-foot rope into the hole while a few brave young men were tied with ropes and lowered in. But finding the slippery rocks inside too treacherous, they asked that the fire brigade, located 28 miles away in Falmouth, be summoned.

"We got the call at 7:55 a.m. and when we got there, three young men were down in the hole and we provided them with ropes," said Deputy Superintendent Franklyn Smith, of the Trelawny Fire Department. "After about 45 minutes, we finally got him out of the hole."

When The Gleaner visited the community, residents were all singing the praises of three young men, who asked to be identified only as 'Bones', 'Kim' and 'Gilbert', who they said braved the dark underground to save Mr. York.

"When we go down about 200 feet in the hole and found him, we tried to calm him down first," said Bones. "We then tie him with the rope and gradually eased him out and then they pulled us up out of hole one after the other."

Mr. York, who residents said appeared somewhat dazed and dehydrated, was rushed to the Falmouth Hospital where a medical examination revealed severe bruising all over his body but no broken bones. He was admitted for observation.

"God is good and I know that so I never lost faith during the time I was down there," Mr. York told The Gleaner from his hospital bed. "God is good and his mercies endureth for ever."