Text 1: Inspectors freed from rail tunnel in under twelve hours, by Mariam Cole

An original contemporary newspaper report.

Two railway inspectors were brought safely to the surface yesterday after being trapped by a fall of brick and soil inside Kemsford Tunnel.

The tunnel had been closed to trains for overnight maintenance when part of its lining collapsed behind the inspectors. Their final radio message gave their position, but the fall blocked the only safe route back to the entrance.

Rescue commander Leah Morgan said the damaged arch remained unstable. Structural engineers first examined it using a camera pushed through a narrow gap. Rescue workers then fitted steel supports one at a time before removing the rubble beneath them. The precautions made progress slow, but prevented further material falling into the passage.

After four hours, the team opened a space wide enough to pass water through and speak to the inspectors. Both confirmed that they were unhurt. Workers continued in short shifts until a path had been cleared through fourteen metres of rubble.

The inspectors walked out just under twelve hours after the collapse. 'Knowing exactly where they were meant we could concentrate on making one route secure,' Morgan said. 'Nobody had to search for them.'

Text 2: Beneath Bryn Glas, by Evan Rhys

A newly written diary extract set in 1887, not a historical source.

The writer describes the rescue of three workers following a roof fall in a lead mine.

At two yesterday afternoon the western level fell in, and Morgan Hughes and the two Ellis brothers did not return. The mine captain could not say whether they had entered the old west passage or the lower chamber, for the newest workings had not yet been added to his map.

We divided into two parties and dug towards both places. For nine hours we heard nothing. Then, when all had grown quiet, Dai Lewis heard three knocks from beyond the lower chamber, and every man was sent that way.

It was fearful work. The passage was scarcely high enough to crawl through, and the roof timbers bent and cracked whenever our picks disturbed the stones. We cut fresh props from wood in the yard and fixed one before moving another basket of earth. Twice the candles burned so weakly that the men had to come back to the main shaft before beginning again.

After thirty-one hours we reached them. All three lived, though Morgan Hughes had injured his leg and had to be carried out on a door. The delay was bitter to us, but without the tapping we might have spent another day digging along the wrong passage.

Using information from both texts, explain briefly how uncertainty and physical danger affected each rescue and why the operation in Text 2 took longer.

You should make it clear which text you are referring to.