At that point, the Coalition forces assumed all of the prisoners were dead. In reality, however, well over 100 surviving prisoners had retreated to the basement dungeon of a central building, where they hid and were discovered only when they killed the body collectors who attempted to enter it and injured two others. The fighting resumed. Northern Alliance fighters fired and threw in grenades and explosives into the basement, and even poured oil in and lit it on fire, but nevertheless the resistance continued. On November 28, General Dostum arrived and personally tried to persuade the last prisoners to surrender, to no effect. The next day, Dostum ordered the dungeon flooded with frigid irrigation water. This tactic worked and the last holdouts finally surrendered on December 1. Of the 386 prisoners brought to the fortress, 86 emerged still alive from the flooded basement, including John Walker Lindh. Some survivors later claimed they did not participate in the battle. One also told "The Observer" reporter Luke Harding that some wanted to surrender earlier, but a group of seven Arabs took control and did not let them.