A total of 19 luminous infrared galaxy mergers, with L_IR~2 10^11 L_sun for
H_0=75 km/s/Mpc, have been observed in the HI line at Nancay and four of them
were observed at Arecibo as well. Of these 19, ten had not been observed
before. Six were clearly detected, one of which for the first time. The
objective was to statistically sample the \HI gas mass in luminous infrared
mergers along a starburst merger sequence where the molecular CO gas content is
already known.Comment: 11 pages, accepted for Astron. Astrophys., 22/12/200
