View allAll Photos Tagged miningdisaster
About all that's left of Dawson, New Mexico. Most of the graves are of miners lost in two major mine explosions.
www.newmexicomagazine.org/blog/post/dawson-new-mexico-his...
There's a time to live
And a time to die
There's a time to laugh
And a time to cry
There's a time for war
And a time for peace
There's a hand to hold
In the worst of times
In the worst of things...
Memorial for the Cherry Mine Disaster in tiny Cherry,IL. The 1909 disaster stands as the 3rd worst mining accident in US history-259 men and boys lost their lives that day.Many of them are buried in the cemetery of this tiny central Illinois town in the shadow of the large tailings mound from the long defunct coal mine.The mound still turns red in the fall when the foliage dies away as if bleeding for the souls lost there...
History of the disaster here...
After many years of closure, exploration of the gold reef began again in the 1970s and it was confirmed that enough gold could be found 200 metres below the previous level to make mining viable.
In 1991 the old Hart Shaft was reopened and a new Winder Tower built (as seen in the previous photo). By 1996 production was in full swing and the future looked very bright for Beaconsfield again. The mine was employing over 100 people and was extracting nearly 4,000 kilograms of gold a year.
Then on Tuesday 25 April 2006, a small earthquake caused a rock fall in the Beaconsfield gold mine. Fourteen miners escaped safely, one miner, Larry Knight, was killed, and the remaining two, Todd Russell and Brant Webb, were trapped in a shaft approximately one kilometre underground. The two trapped miners were found alive five days later on Sunday 30 April. Rescue operations continued for nearly two weeks until the two miners were freed on Tuesday 9 May.
1869-2019: 150. Jahrestag des Grubenunglücks der Schächte "Segen Gottes" und "Neuhoffnung" im Freitaler Revier südlich von Dresden
Der Steinkohlenbergbau reicht hier urkundlich bis ins 16. Jahrhundert zurück. In der zweiten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts kam es zur stetigen Intensivierung des Abbaus, die 1900 mit einer Jahresförderleistung von 661.000 Tonnen Kohle aus allen Gruben ihren Höhepunkt erreichte.
Dabei war die Arbeit der Bergleute nicht ungefährlich. Insbesondere die durch Methananreicherungen möglichen Schlagwetterexplosionen hatten oft tödliche Folgen.
Am 2. August 1869 ereignete sich auf den Schächten "Segen-Gottes" und "Neuhoffnung" eine solche Explosion, die 276 Bergleute das Leben kostete, nur 5 Bergleute überlebten. Das Unglück ist bis heute das schwerste Grubenunglück in der sächsischen Bergbaugeschichte und das viertschwerste Unglück in der deutschen Bergbaugeschichte.
Ein Jahr nach dem Unglück weihte man am Bestattungsort der Opfer ein Denkmal ein. Es umfasst einen Obelisken mit zwei Inschriftenplatten sowie mehrere Tafeln mit den Namen der Opfer im Alter von 15 bis 65 Jahren.
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Monument for the victims of Saxonys worst mining accident, caused the death of 276 miners in the "Segen-Gottes-Shaft" and "Neuhoffnung-Shaft" in Kleinnaundorf near Dresden on 2 August 1869.
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Dieses Foto ist urheberrechtlich geschützt. Jede Verwendung ist nur mit ausdrücklicher schriftlicher Genehmigung meinerseits zulässig. Dies gilt auch für die Nutzung auf privaten Homepages.
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Please Note: This photo ist (C) Copyrighted & All Rights Reserved. Do not use this image in any form without my written permission.
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Vermutlich bereits seit Mitte des 18. Jahrhunderts wurde in der nordböhmischen Stadt Ossegg (Osek) Braunkohle gefördert. Der Eisenbahnanschluss forcierte im 19. Jahrhundert die Industrialisierung und damit den Ausbau der Gruben.
Am 3. Januar 1934 ereignete sich in der Grube Nelson III eine verheerende Methangas-Kohlenstaubexplosion, welche mit einer Sprengkraft von etwa 230.000 Kilogramm das gesamte Grubenfeld erfasste. Dabei wurden 140 Bergleute untertage getötet. Zwei weitere Personen starben beim Einsturz des Förderhauses übertage. Nur vier Bergleute überlebten das Unglück.
Weitere Explosionen, ausgelöst durch die Zufuhr von frischer Luft, führten zur Schließung der Schachtmundlöcher. Bei deren Öffnung Ende Juni 1934 starben dennoch zwei weitere Menschen durch die Explosion angesammelter Gase.
Insgesamt hinterließ die Katastrophe 128 Witwen und 226 Waisenkinder. Aufgrund der ungeheuren Zerstörungen der Grubenbaue dauerte die Bergung der letzten Opfer bis 1938 an und erst 1941 wurde Nelson III wieder vollständig in Betrieb genommen. Der Bergbau dauerte dann noch bis 1983 an.
Am westlichen Ortsrand von Ossegg (Osek) wurde im Mai 1935 ein Denkmal zur Erinnerung an die Katastrophe eingeweiht. Es zeigt die trauernden Eltern eines toten Bergmannes und beruht auf einem Entwurf von Josef Grus, gestaltet wurde es von Karel Pokorný.
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The Nelson Mine Disaster Memorial in Osek, Czech Republic. A explosion of coal dust in the underground mine Nelson III caused the death of 142 miners working at the mine. Misfortune was the continuation of 28 June when accumulated gases killed two other miners.
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Dieses Foto ist urheberrechtlich geschützt. Jede Verwendung ist nur mit ausdrücklicher schriftlicher Genehmigung meinerseits zulässig. Dies gilt auch für die Nutzung auf privaten Homepages.
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Please Note: This photo ist (C) Copyrighted & All Rights Reserved. Do not use this image in any form without my written permission.
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Taken from a print in my collection.
Located at the end of a branch from Aber on the Rhynney Railway Universal Colliery where the first shaft was sunk in 1891. The first coal was extracted in 1896.
In May 1901 there were three underground explosions at Universal Colliery , killing 81 miners.
Then on October 14th 1913 there was a further explosion at Universal Colliery which resulted in the loss f 439 lives, the worst mining disaster in the United Kingdom. The colliery later reopened and eventually closed in November 1928.
There are three memorials on the site of the former colliery.
This is the reamins of Barnsley Main Colliery on Oaks Lane, Barnsley, UK. On the right of the photograph there are two bollards, which mark where the shafts where of Barnsley Oaks Colliery. Here, on 12th & 13th December 1866, 383 men and boys were killed in a series of explosions. Rescuers were killed trying to save those affected by the earlier blasts. Read more here: www.oaks1866.com/oaks-colliery/
Yellow Jacket Gold Mine in Gold Hill Nevada U.S.A.
On April 7th, 1869 fire broke out the 800 level of the Yellow Jacket Gold Mine taking 35 known miners lives with a possible ten men never accounted for, one of the worst mining disasters in Nevada's mining history.
In the background of the photo is the Crown Point mill built in 1935.
©Copyright Notice
This photograph and all those within my photostream are protected by copyright. The photos may not be reproduced, copied, transmitted or manipulated without my written permission.
Over the next few days we will take a look at the town of Beaconsfield in northern Tasmania. It is best known for its gold mine (now closed). But it wasn't always that way. Originally the little town was known as Brandy Creek, but some of the locals didn't like the sound of that so in 1879 they renamed it Beaconsfield after Lord Beaconsfield (British PM Benjamin Disraeli).
Gold was discovered in this area in 1847. That's four years before the more famous gold rush in Victoria. By 1877 more than 700 men were employed in the first mine and more than 26 tonne of gold recovered. By 1881 some 53 small companies were working the mines and Beaconsfield became the richest mining town in Tasmania.
In 1903 English mining investors bought the rights and formed the Tasmanian Gold Mining Company Ltd. This led to the building of at least two major new shafts, the Hart Shaft (1904) and the Grubb Shaft (1905). This mining continued to operate until 1914 when a combination of WWI and regular flooding of the shafts meant its closure. At this stage the mine had worked to a depth of 450 metres.
[If you enlarge the shot you'll get lots of detail of the mine entrance, including the now famous key rack. In 2006 after being rescued from two weeks trapped underground, miners Todd Russell and Brandt Webb both emerged in good spirits to the cheering crowds and placed their keys on that rack - symbolising their close of shift. It was an emotional time for all!]
The memorial (the text of which is a real challenge to read) commemorates 26 children who were drowned in Huskar Pit during heavy rain during a thunderstorm in 1838. SIlkstone, Barnsley, UK.
When I recently visited M - Museum again, I must admit that I was disappointed. It was always a little bit of a maze, with areas that were easy to overlook, but now it seems they crammed a whole lot of Old Masters together in a couple of corners, to make space for large installations of a less generally appealing sort.
I know... this crammed display is called Verzamelen is een kunst / The Art of Collecting, so maybe I was just in a bad mood and/or am turning into an old fart...
Another old picture, from the end of 1992. Twilight over Cresswell pit, Derbyshire, near the Notts border. The scene of a famous mining disaster in 1950 when 80 men died, the colliery had closed during 1991 and is now long demolished.
This is the memorial to not one but two mining disasters at Auchengeich. In 1931 six miners were killed by an explosion - a number of their comrades tried to go back to save them, but were overcome by fumes and had to be rescued themselves.
The second disaster was in 1959, when 47 men were trapped by a blaze, a thousand feet below the surface of the Earth. So severe was the fire and smoke (most were overcome by the smoke, it is thought) that the rescue attempts could not get close, and eventually they were left with no choice but to flood the put to dowse the flames.
47 men gone just like that, dozens of families shattered. My mother was a wee girl when it happened, but she remembered some of the children whose family members were in the pit being taken out of school, wailing and screaming their grief. The history books like to talk about the Great Events - the Industrial Revolution, exploration, empire and all of that, but often neglects that everything was built on the broad backs of men who laboured in such dangerous conditions for little reward.
Yellow Jacket Gold Mine Headframe and ore chute in Gold Hill Nevada U.S.A.
©Copyright Notice
This photograph and all those within my photostream are protected by copyright. The photos may not be reproduced, copied, transmitted or manipulated without my written permission.
Guardian, designed and created by Sebastien Boyesen, was commissioned to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1960 mining disaster in the Six Bells Colliery in which 45 men died. Completed in 2010, the 20 metre sculpture stands on the site of the former colliery looking towards the village of Six Bells. The names of all the men who died are cut into metal panels which wrap around the base of the sculpture.
This is the memorial to not one but two mining disasters at Auchengeich. In 1931 six miners were killed by an explosion - a number of their comrades tried to go back to save them, but were overcome by fumes and had to be rescued themselves.
The second disaster was in 1959, when 47 men were trapped by a blaze, a thousand feet below the surface of the Earth. So severe was the fire and smoke (most were overcome by the smoke, it is thought) that the rescue attempts could not get close, and eventually they were left with no choice but to flood the put to dowse the flames.
47 men gone just like that, dozens of families shattered. My mother was a wee girl when it happened, but she remembered some of the children whose family members were in the pit being taken out of school, wailing and screaming their grief. The history books like to talk about the Great Events - the Industrial Revolution, exploration, empire and all of that, but often neglects that everything was built on the broad backs of men who laboured in such dangerous conditions for little reward.
© I m a g e b y D a v e F o r b e s
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Engagement 2,400+
Moodiesburn Bridgend North Lanarkshire
The pithead wheel stand guard over this fine memorial of the brave miners that lost their young lives on September 18th 1959 with the miner bowing his head centred. Each name , set in stone , of the lost miners are placed around the monument itself.
This is the second miner as the original statue was cut down then stolen by unscrupulous metalt thieves from it's place , much to the shock and disgust of the local community of Muirhead
William Coulson (centre) in charge of the rescue was in his 60's when this photo was taken. he has sunk the shaft some 20 years earlier. he is preparing the descend the shaft with William Shields to the right. A doctor and nurse are present.
East of Red Lodge, Montana.
"The Smith Mine disaster was the worst coal mining disaster in the U.S. state of Montana, and the 43rd worst in the United States, according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).
On February 27, 1943, at approximately 9:37 a.m., an explosion ripped through Smith Mine No. 3, a coal mine located between the towns of Bearcreek and Washoe. Since it was a Saturday, there was a short crew in the mine. Of the 77 men working that day, only three got out of the mine alive, and one of the rescue workers died soon afterward. The report from the United States Bureau of Mines states that 30 of the men were killed instantly by the explosion, and the remainder died either because of injuries sustained in the explosion, or because of suffocation from the carbon monoxide and methane gas in the mine. The explosion was deep underground, and was not heard at the mouth of the mine, despite having enough power to knock a 20-ton locomotive off its tracks 0.25 mile from the blast origin.
All of the bodies were removed from the mine. There is a highway plaque near the mouth of the mine, which was never reopened, and there are memorials in the cemeteries in Bearcreek and nearby Red Lodge, the county seat for Carbon County.
The explosion was attributed to a build-up of methane gas in the mine. The cause of detonation is unknown, but various reports note that men were allowed to smoke in the mine, and that fuses for blasting were lit with matches.
The site of the disaster is included in the Smith Mine Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009."
Dawson is a ghost town in Colfax County, New Mexico. It was a mining town, and suffered two mine disasters killing 376.
The first on October 22, 1913, was an explosion that killed 263 miners. The second, also an explosion, on February 13, 1923, killed 123 miners - many of them children of the men who died in the 1913 explosion.
Its cemetery is on the National Register of Historic Places. The cemetery is filled with iron crosses marking the graves of miners, many who died in the two explosions.
The Crowsnest Pass area has seen its share of disasters over the years. All of them taking a toll on valley residents.
Other mining disasters beside the 1914 Hillcrest explosion occurred in the Crowsnest Pass.
Another explosion occurred in the Hillcrest Mine on September 19, 1926 when the mine was idle, killing two men.
Explosions at other coal mines within the Crowsnest Pass also caused deaths:
Coal Creek, 1902 (128 men killed);
Michel, 1904 (7 killed);
Coleman, 1907 (3 killed);
Bellevue , 1910 (31 killed);
Michel, 1916 (12 killed); Coal
Creek, 1917 (34 killed);
Coleman, 1926 (10 killed);
Michel, 1938 (3 killed).
This is the memorial to not one but two mining disasters at Auchengeich. In 1931 six miners were killed by an explosion - a number of their comrades tried to go back to save them, but were overcome by fumes and had to be rescued themselves.
The second disaster was in 1959, when 47 men were trapped by a blaze, a thousand feet below the surface of the Earth. So severe was the fire and smoke (most were overcome by the smoke, it is thought) that the rescue attempts could not get close, and eventually they were left with no choice but to flood the put to dowse the flames.
47 men gone just like that, dozens of families shattered. My mother was a wee girl when it happened, but she remembered some of the children whose family members were in the pit being taken out of school, wailing and screaming their grief. The history books like to talk about the Great Events - the Industrial Revolution, exploration, empire and all of that, but often neglects that everything was built on the broad backs of men who laboured in such dangerous conditions for little reward.
County Durham, 29th May 1951. Report number Cmd 8646. 83 dead.
firedamp was ignited when the picks of a coal cutting machine operating on a retreating longwall face struck pyrites. The explosion spread through 16,000 yards of roadway and caused the deaths of 81 persons. Two persons died in the ensuing rescue operations.
Easington Colliery is situated on the coast in the County of Durham, between the ports of Seaham Harbour and West Hartlepool, nine miles north-west of the latter. There are two principal shafts, both circular and both 20 feet in diameter. The North Shaft, the downcast, was sunk to the Hutton Seam at a depth of 1,430 feet, the present winding level being at the Main Coal Inset at a depth of 1,130 feet. The South Shaft, the upcast, is 1,500 feet deep to the Hutton Seam. Both are used for winding men, mineral and materials. A third shaft, the West, 470 feet deep, is connected to the South Shaft by a drift at the 164 feet level. Although sinking was started in 1899, coal drawing did not begin until 1910 because of difficulties encountered in passing through waterbearing strata.
Report by H.C.W. Roberts Chief HMI
Plan scanned and pieced together to remake a copy of the original taken from my collection of disaster reports
This photo was taken on the afternoon of that day and is possibly the first taken post- explosion - note the village policeman holding back the crowd on the approach footbridge.
The Lancaster shaft is on the right.
The cars are likely to have belonged to eminent people who attended the mine following the disaster. ( the car nearest camera is, I believe, that of the M.P. Mr. Keir Hardie - see postcard No. 17 of W. Benton.)
August 16th. 1928 - William Moulder was killed by a fall of roof - perhaps the last to be killed at this mine? - the manager was Mr. E. Morgan.
In 1928, due to the severe depression in the industry, the colliery was purchased from Lewis Merthyr Consolidated Collieries Co. by Messrs. Powell Duffryn Ltd. when the bank refused any further loans. By November of that year Messrs. Powell Duffryn were accused of stripping-out the mine - they assured Caerphilly UDC together with Glamorgan CC that they were simply partially stripping some U/G roadways due to them being uneconomic to continue and that it was their intention to develop other seams "when trading conditions improved" - the mine never reopened although the shaft was maintained for pumping.
To see a series of photo postcards taken by W. Benton - 25 No. - over the days following the disaster www.senghenydd.net/senghenydd_explosion_octobe/
To enlarge, double click photo and select from "View all Sizes"
Photo - Colliery Guardian
Lanarkshire, 18th September 1959 . Report number Cmnd 1022. 47 dead
Fire originated in the balata transmission belt of the electrically driven booster fan in the return airway from No. 2 Pit workings. The fire was caused by frictional heat generated between the rotating motor pulley and the belt, which had left the fan pulley and jammed near it. Flame from the belt ignited oil vaporised from the fan shaft bearings and oily deposits in and around the fan. The flame then spread downwind to ignite roadway timbers.
Forty-seven men on a man-riding train underground in a return airway died from asphyxia due to poisoning by carbon monoxide contained in smoke from a fire which originated in the driving belt of a booster fan farther inbye and spread to wood props and laggings used as roof supports.
Report by T.A. Rogers Chief HMI
Plan scanned and pieced together to remake a copy of the original taken from my collection of disaster reports
At about 11.15 hours on 18 March 1979 11 men were employed in the Plodder Seam Development District at Golborne Colliery when an ignition and explosion of firedamp occurred. Three men were killed and seven subsequently died in hospital. The explosion occurred during the de-gassing of the P.1 Intake Drivage where firedamp had accumulated following a breakdown in the ventilating arrangements. The investigation concludes that the firedamp was probably ignited by electrical sparking.
Golborne Colliery is one of twenty two producing mines in the Western area of the National Coal Board. It is situated in the village of Golborne within the Wigan Metropolitan Borough of the Greater Manchester County and lies approximately mid-way between the towns of Wigan and Warrington. A total of 870 men are employed; 766 underground and 104 on the surface
The mine was sunk circa 1865 and is served by two shafts known as No 2 (Upcast) and No 3 (Downcast). The No 2 shaft is 4.2 m in diameter and sunk to a depth of 545 m and is used for manriding. No 3 shaft is 5.4 m in diameter, sunk to the same depth, and is used for manriding and for materials. In August 1975 an underground connection was completed with the neighbouring Bickershaw Colliery and in April 1977 all mineral winding at Golborne Colliery ceased and was transferred to Bickershaw. Parsonage Colliery is also connected underground to Bickershaw Colliery but the fact that the collieries are interconnected is not considered to be of significance to the explosion.
Report by L.D. Rhydderch Chief HMI
Plan scanned and pieced together to remake a copy of the original taken from my collection of disaster reports
This is the memorial to not one but two mining disasters at Auchengeich. In 1931 six miners were killed by an explosion - a number of their comrades tried to go back to save them, but were overcome by fumes and had to be rescued themselves.
The second disaster was in 1959, when 47 men were trapped by a blaze, a thousand feet below the surface of the Earth. So severe was the fire and smoke (most were overcome by the smoke, it is thought) that the rescue attempts could not get close, and eventually they were left with no choice but to flood the put to dowse the flames.
47 men gone just like that, dozens of families shattered. My mother was a wee girl when it happened, but she remembered some of the children whose family members were in the pit being taken out of school, wailing and screaming their grief. The history books like to talk about the Great Events - the Industrial Revolution, exploration, empire and all of that, but often neglects that everything was built on the broad backs of men who laboured in such dangerous conditions for little reward.
Circa early 1911, on site at Bradford Colliery. The disaster at Pretoria Pit occurred at 7.50am, Dec 21st 1910, claiming 344 men and boys. Colliery was situated north of Atherton, today part of Wigan Borough
At about 1 1.15 hours on 18 March 1979 11 men were employed in the Plodder Seam Development District at Golborne Colliery when an ignition and explosion of firedamp occurred. Three men were killed and seven subsequently died in hospital. The explosion occurred during the de-gassing of the P.1 Intake Drivage where firedamp had accumulated following a breakdown in the ventilating arrangements. The investigation concludes that the firedamp was probably ignited by electrical sparking.
Golborne Colliery is one of twenty two producing mines in the Western area of the National Coal Board. It is situated in the village of Golborne within the Wigan Metropolitan Borough of the Greater Manchester County and lies approximately mid-way between the towns of Wigan and Warrington. A total of 870 men are employed; 766 underground and 104 on the surface
The mine was sunk circa 1865 and is served by two shafts known as No 2 (Upcast) and No 3 (Downcast). The No 2 shaft is 4.2 m in diameter and sunk to a depth of 545 m and is used for manriding. No 3 shaft is 5.4 m in diameter, sunk to the same depth, and is used for manriding and for materials. In August 1975 an underground connection was completed with the neighbouring Bickershaw Colliery and in April 1977 all mineral winding at Golborne Colliery ceased and was transferred to Bickershaw. Parsonage Colliery is also connected underground to Bickershaw Colliery but the fact that the collieries are interconnected is not considered to be of significance to the explosion.
Report by L.D. Rhydderch Chief HMI
Plan scanned and pieced together to remake a copy of the original taken from my collection of disaster reports
MONONGAH DISASTER. On the 6th of Dec., 1907, 361 coal miners, many of them from countries far across the sea, perished under these hills in the worst mining disaster of our nation. The four who escaped died of injuries.
According to research done by John Rappold of contemporary news articles: "...the mine foreman plainly states that both shifts had just gone into the mine, numbering about 1,000 workers. The offical death toll is 361, and I’ve seen a couple of estimates in the 500 range, but only one that comes close to 1,000. I wonder if the 361 is just for the bodies that were recovered." (http://johnrappold.org/blog/?p=162)
AUGUST 2007 - MONONGAH DISASTER TO BE REMEMBERED
A tribute will be held this month (August 2007) for more than 350 men and boys who died in a 1907 Marion County mine disaster.
The Monongah Centennial Commemoration Festival is set for Aug. 16-19 to honor the miners who lost their lives in the No. 8 and No. 6 mines in Monongah on Dec. 6, 1907.
Gov. Joe Manchin named an 11-member committee to lead the special events. The August festival will include a dinner with Gov. Manchin as speaker, a candlelight vigil at Mount Calvary Cemetery, a parade and a Sunday Mass at Holy Spirit Catholic Church with Bishop Michael Bransfield.
In October, the Columbus Day Weekend will feature a dedication ceremony for the Monongah Heroine Statue, dedicated to the women and families who faced the strategy.
On Dec. 6, the commemoration ceremony will focus on the presentation of a special bell from Italy.
The commemorative events will start with the Monongah Mine Disaster Centennial Remembrance Dinner at 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 16, at Westchester Village. Gov. Joe Manchin will be the guest speaker for the event, and state Sen. Roman Prezioso, who is chairman of the Monongah Mine Disaster Centennial Remembrance Committee, will also speak. Prezioso and Marianne Moran, director of the Convention and Visitors’ Bureau of Marion County who is also on the committee, organized the dinner.
The dinner will cost $30 per person, and individuals must make reservations with the CVB at 368-1123 by this Friday. As of Tuesday morning, 90 people had already made reservations for the event.
“It really not only affected the town of Monongah, but the whole mining industry as a whole,” Moran said. “It’s certainly not a celebration — it’s a very solemn occasion — but it’s a remembrance.”
After a prededication of the Monongah Heroine Statue at 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 17, visitors can attend a reception and a candlelight vigil at Mount Calvary Cemetery where many miners were buried.
Monongahfest will take place Saturday, Aug. 18. Festival activities include a country breakfast in the Monongah Town Hall, parade, Christopher’s Buffet in the town hall, entertainment, arts and crafts, children’s activities, food vendors and fireworks.
The remembrance activities will conclude with a Mass with Bishop Michael Bransfield at 11 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 19, at Holy Spirit Catholic Church, followed by a memorial walk to Mount Calvary Cemetery. Buses will also be available.
A dedication ceremony for the Monongah Heroine Statue is slated for the week of Columbus Day. All of these events will culminate with the Monongah Mine Disaster Centennial Remembrance Ceremony Dec. 6.
For information, contact Sen. Roman Prezioso of Fairmont at 366-5308 or Marianne Moran at 368-1123.
Lanarkshire, 18th September 1959 . Report number Cmnd 1022. 47 dead
Fire originated in the balata transmission belt of the electrically driven booster fan in the return airway from No. 2 Pit workings. The fire was caused by frictional heat generated between the rotating motor pulley and the belt, which had left the fan pulley and jammed near it. Flame from the belt ignited oil vaporised from the fan shaft bearings and oily deposits in and around the fan. The flame then spread downwind to ignite roadway timbers.
Forty-seven men on a man-riding train underground in a return airway died from asphyxia due to poisoning by carbon monoxide contained in smoke from a fire which originated in the driving belt of a booster fan farther inbye and spread to wood props and laggings used as roof supports.
Report by T.A. Rogers Chief HMI
Plan scanned and pieced together to remake a copy of the original taken from my collection of disaster reports
Denbighshire, 22nd September 1934. Report number Cmd 5358. 265 dead. Of these 255 lay entombed.
The cause of the explosion was never established. The explosion occurred about 2 a.m. on Saturday, the 22nd September, 1934, in the Dennis Section of the mine (see Plan 1) and its effects were limited to that Section, though the concussion was felt at the pit bottom and in the Slant District. Except for a few persons working near the pit bottom and one Deputy and five men who managed to escape from 29's District, all the men who were employed in the Section at the time lost their lives. In addition, three members of a rescue brigade lost their lives the same day in attempted recovery operations.
Fire followed the explosion and more particularly an extensive fire in the main intake airway at 29's Turn, which was fought continuously but unavailingly until the evening of the following day, by which time it was certain that all men not accounted for must be dead and the conditions as regards the presence of inflammable gas had become imminently dangerous. It was accordingly decided by the representatives of the Owners, Workmen and Inspectors that the mine must be sealed off at the tops of the two shafts, and this was done. A notice announcing that decision was posted at the colliery.
Further explosions occurred in the mine and at 1.25 p.m. on Tuesday, 25th September, one of them wrecked the sealing of the downcast shaft and a surface worker was killed by the projected debris. This brought the total loss of life up to 265, making this the worst disaster in British coal mining since the explosion at Senghenydd Colliery in 1913. So far, only 11 of the bodies have been recovered; the cause of death in each case was poisoning by carbon monoxide.
It was not considered safe to commence any recovery operations until about six months after the shafts were sealed; and then, by difficult and arduous operations, the shafts and the shaft bottom were recovered, and later, the Dennis Section was sealed off by a system of stoppings in the main and other roads leading into it. That is still the position, and no examination or inspection of the Dennis Section has been possible except for exploration along the main Martin return and thence to the top of 142's Deep by men wearing self-contained breathing apparatus.
Report by Sir Henry Walker Chief HMI
Plan scanned and pieced together to remake a copy of the original taken from my collection of disaster reports
This is the memorial to not one but two mining disasters at Auchengeich. In 1931 six miners were killed by an explosion - a number of their comrades tried to go back to save them, but were overcome by fumes and had to be rescued themselves.
The second disaster was in 1959, when 47 men were trapped by a blaze, a thousand feet below the surface of the Earth. So severe was the fire and smoke (most were overcome by the smoke, it is thought) that the rescue attempts could not get close, and eventually they were left with no choice but to flood the put to dowse the flames.
47 men gone just like that, dozens of families shattered. My mother was a wee girl when it happened, but she remembered some of the children whose family members were in the pit being taken out of school, wailing and screaming their grief. The history books like to talk about the Great Events - the Industrial Revolution, exploration, empire and all of that, but often neglects that everything was built on the broad backs of men who laboured in such dangerous conditions for little reward.
County Durham, 29th May 1951. Report number Cmd 8646. 83 dead.
firedamp was ignited when the picks of a coal cutting machine operating on a retreating longwall face struck pyrites. The explosion spread through 16,000 yards of roadway and caused the deaths of 81 persons. Two persons died in the ensuing rescue operations.
Easington Colliery is situated on the coast in the County of Durham, between the ports of Seaham Harbour and West Hartlepool, nine miles north-west of the latter. There are two principal shafts, both circular and both 20 feet in diameter. The North Shaft, the downcast, was sunk to the Hutton Seam at a depth of 1,430 feet, the present winding level being at the Main Coal Inset at a depth of 1,130 feet. The South Shaft, the upcast, is 1,500 feet deep to the Hutton Seam. Both are used for winding men, mineral and materials. A third shaft, the West, 470 feet deep, is connected to the South Shaft by a drift at the 164 feet level. Although sinking was started in 1899, coal drawing did not begin until 1910 because of difficulties encountered in passing through waterbearing strata.
Report by H.C.W. Roberts Chief HMI
Plan scanned and pieced together to remake a copy of the original taken from my collection of disaster reports
Five men lost their lives and one man sustained serious injury as a result of an explosion in the Meltonfield seam workings at Houghton Main Colliery at approximately 6.50 pm on 12 June 1975. The explosion resulted from the ignition of an accumulation of firedamp in B 05's return development heading which had been unventilated for a period of nine days prior to the explosion. The most likely source of ignition was frictional sparking from the impeller and casing of the Carter Howden auxiliary fan.
Houghton Main Colliery is one of 18 producing mines in the Barnsley area of the National Coal Board. It is situated some 5 miles* east of Barnsley. A total of 1361 men are employed; 1191 underground and 170 on the surface.
There are three shafts: No. 1 and No. 2 are downcast and each is 14 feet in diameter; No. 3 shaft is an upcast and is 20 feet in diameter. The shafts were sunk originally to the Barnsley seam and subsequently No. 2 and No. 3 shafts were deepened to the Thorncliffe seam at a depth of 816 yards. The shafts at the colliery are used principally for ventilation, man-winding and materials winding, but some 150 tons of coal per day are raised at No. 2 shaft. In the Beamshaw and the Parkgate seam horizons there are coal transport roadways inter-connecting with the neighbouring Grimethorpe Colliery where the combined output of both collieries is wound to the surface.
Report by J. Carver Chief HMI
Plan scanned and pieced together to remake a copy of the original taken from my collection of disaster reports
Glamorganshire, Tuesday, 14th October, 1913. Report number Cd. 7346. 439 dead
The explosion, which in point of loss of life constitutes the greatest disaster in the annals of British mining happened at about 8.10 a.m. on Tuesday, the 14th October 1913.
The number of persons killed by the explosion or who died from the effects of the afterdamp was 439 and one man lost his life on the day following the explosion whilst engaged in work at the fire on the main west level, being killed by a fall of stone.
There is strong probability of the explosion having originated on the Mafeking Incline, and that it was preceded by an occurrence similar to that which took place further outbye in the Mafeking Return in October, 1910, namely, by heavy falls liberating a large volume of gas. These heavy falls exposed seams of coal and beds of hard rock, and an outburst of gas may have come away at one of them. The only apparent means of ignition would be sparks from the electric signalling apparatus, or from rocks brought down from the fall, and we know that explosions have been originated by both these causes. The only other possible means of ignition were safety lamps or matches. The difficulty in regard to the former is that no lamp was found in the place, and even were a broken lamp found under a fall there would be the inference that it may have been broken by the fall. There were however, lamps lower down the hard heading, but there is no evidence pointing to any of them having been the igniting cause of the explosion. In respect of matches, as has already been stated, a rigorous search of the persons descending the mine was being carried out daily, and the possibility of a match being the igniting cause is remote.
Report by R. A. S. Redmayne, H.M. Chief Inspector
Plan scanned and pieced together to remake a copy of the original borrowed from a collection of disaster reports
New monument adjacent to the Monongah Disaster historical marker. The monument commemorates the hundreds of women and nearly a thousand children left without their husbands and fathers after the Monongah disaster.
So it is not mere coincidence that just six months later, the first Father's Day was celebrated in Fairmont, WV (the major town 4 miles from Monongah).
MONONGAH DISASTER TO BE REMEMBERED
A tribute will be held this month (August 2007) for more than 350 men and boys who died in a 1907 Marion County mine disaster.
The Monongah Centennial Commemoration Festival is set for Aug. 16-19 to honor the miners who lost their lives in the No. 8 and No. 6 mines in Monongah on Dec. 6, 1907.
Gov. Joe Manchin named an 11-member committee to lead the special events. The August festival will include a dinner with Gov. Manchin as speaker, a candlelight vigil at Mount Calvary Cemetery, a parade and a Sunday Mass at Holy Spirit Catholic Church with Bishop Michael Bransfield.
In October, the Columbus Day Weekend will feature a dedication ceremony for the Monongah Heroine Statue, dedicated to the women and families who faced the strategy.
On Dec. 6, the commemoration ceremony will focus on the presentation of a special bell from Italy.
The commemorative events will start with the Monongah Mine Disaster Centennial Remembrance Dinner at 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 16, at Westchester Village. Gov. Joe Manchin will be the guest speaker for the event, and state Sen. Roman Prezioso, who is chairman of the Monongah Mine Disaster Centennial Remembrance Committee, will also speak. Prezioso and Marianne Moran, director of the Convention and Visitors’ Bureau of Marion County who is also on the committee, organized the dinner.
The dinner will cost $30 per person, and individuals must make reservations with the CVB at 368-1123 by this Friday. As of Tuesday morning, 90 people had already made reservations for the event.
“It really not only affected the town of Monongah, but the whole mining industry as a whole,” Moran said. “It’s certainly not a celebration — it’s a very solemn occasion — but it’s a remembrance.”
After a prededication of the Monongah Heroine Statue at 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 17, visitors can attend a reception and a candlelight vigil at Mount Calvary Cemetery where many miners were buried.
Monongahfest will take place Saturday, Aug. 18. Festival activities include a country breakfast in the Monongah Town Hall, parade, Christopher’s Buffet in the town hall, entertainment, arts and crafts, children’s activities, food vendors and fireworks.
The remembrance activities will conclude with a Mass with Bishop Michael Bransfield at 11 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 19, at Holy Spirit Catholic Church, followed by a memorial walk to Mount Calvary Cemetery. Buses will also be available.
A dedication ceremony for the Monongah Heroine Statue is slated for the week of Columbus Day. All of these events will culminate with the Monongah Mine Disaster Centennial Remembrance Ceremony Dec. 6.
For information, contact Sen. Roman Prezioso of Fairmont at 366-5308 or Marianne Moran at 368-1123.
Five men lost their lives and one man sustained serious injury as a result of an explosion in the Meltonfield seam workings at Houghton Main Colliery at approximately 6.50 pm on 12 June 1975. The explosion resulted from the ignition of an accumulation of firedamp in B 05's return development heading which had been unventilated for a period of nine days prior to the explosion. The most likely source of ignition was frictional sparking from the impeller and casing of the Carter Howden auxiliary fan.
Houghton Main Colliery is one of 18 producing mines in the Barnsley area of the National Coal Board. It is situated some 5 miles* east of Barnsley. A total of 1361 men are employed; 1191 underground and 170 on the surface.
There are three shafts: No. 1 and No. 2 are downcast and each is 14 feet in diameter; No. 3 shaft is an upcast and is 20 feet in diameter. The shafts were sunk originally to the Barnsley seam and subsequently No. 2 and No. 3 shafts were deepened to the Thorncliffe seam at a depth of 816 yards. The shafts at the colliery are used principally for ventilation, man-winding and materials winding, but some 150 tons of coal per day are raised at No. 2 shaft. In the Beamshaw and the Parkgate seam horizons there are coal transport roadways inter-connecting with the neighbouring Grimethorpe Colliery where the combined output of both collieries is wound to the surface.
Report by J. Carver Chief HMI
Plan scanned and pieced together to remake a copy of the original taken from my collection of disaster reports
Completed in 2010, Guardian was commissioned to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1960 mining disaster in Six Bells that claimed the lives of 45 men. The amazing 20 metre sculpture towers over the site of the former colliery where the tragedy occurred and is a fitting tribute to the men whose names are cut into panels wrapped around the memorial.
Sutton-in-Ashfield, Notts, 21st February 1957. Report number Cmnd 327. 5 dead & 15 injured.
On 21st February, 1957, at about 11.30 a.m., firedamp was ignited at the intake roadhead of No. 28's fully mechanised longwall face in No. 28's district in the Low Main seam when a stone about 3 feet by 3 feet by 1½ feet fell from the insufficiently secured top or sides of a cavity about 36 feet long, 9 to 12 feet wide and 10 to 12 feet high above the roadway supports. This cavity was left by previous falls of roof in the intake roadhead. The stone struck the cast steel terminal box of a 50 H.P. motor driving a face conveyor and smashed it, causing an electrical short circuit and an incendive flash before the automatic devices for cutting off the supply of electricity had time to operate.
Sutton Colliery is situated about four miles west-south-west of Mansfield in Nottinghamshire. The Top Hard, Deep Hard, Deep Soft, Low Main and Piper seams have all been worked, the Top Hard being exhausted many years ago. At the time of the explosion the daily output was 1,200 tons of which 850 tons were from the Low Main seam, which has been worked for the past 40 years, and the remainder from the Piper seam.
Report by A. Winstanley Deputy Chief HMI
Plan scanned and pieced together to remake a copy of the original taken from my collection of disaster reports
Five men lost their lives and one man sustained serious injury as a result of an explosion in the Meltonfield seam workings at Houghton Main Colliery at approximately 6.50 pm on 12 June 1975. The explosion resulted from the ignition of an accumulation of firedamp in B 05's return development heading which had been unventilated for a period of nine days prior to the explosion. The most likely source of ignition was frictional sparking from the impeller and casing of the Carter Howden auxiliary fan.
Houghton Main Colliery is one of 18 producing mines in the Barnsley area of the National Coal Board. It is situated some 5 miles* east of Barnsley. A total of 1361 men are employed; 1191 underground and 170 on the surface.
There are three shafts: No. 1 and No. 2 are downcast and each is 14 feet in diameter; No. 3 shaft is an upcast and is 20 feet in diameter. The shafts were sunk originally to the Barnsley seam and subsequently No. 2 and No. 3 shafts were deepened to the Thorncliffe seam at a depth of 816 yards. The shafts at the colliery are used principally for ventilation, man-winding and materials winding, but some 150 tons of coal per day are raised at No. 2 shaft. In the Beamshaw and the Parkgate seam horizons there are coal transport roadways inter-connecting with the neighbouring Grimethorpe Colliery where the combined output of both collieries is wound to the surface.
Report by J. Carver Chief HMI
Plan scanned and pieced together to remake a copy of the original taken from my collection of disaster reports
Carmarthenshire, 6th April 1971. Report number Cmnd 4804. 6 dead & 69 injured.
spontaneous outburst of coal and firedamp which occurred at Cynheidre/Pentremawr Colliery, Carmarthenshire, at about 12 noon on 6 April 1971, when six persons were killed and sixty-nine others suffered varying degrees of asphyxia. Three of the men died in the Road 2 Development and three others in Panel 13, a highly mechanised longwall district around which the firedamp was carried by the main ventilation system.
The Cynheidre/Pentremawr Colliery is in the West Wales Area of the National Coal Board and is situated some five miles (8 kilometres) North of Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, at the Western extremity of the coalfield. Cynheidre and Pentremawr Collieries were linked underground in 1966 and came under one manager in 1970. The Pentremawr Colliery began production in 1875. Sinking of the shafts at Cynheidre Colliery commenced during 1954 and production began in 1960.
There are two downcast shafts, two upcast and three intake drifts, all lying within a circle having a radius of 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometres). The No. 1 Downcast and No. 2 Upcast Shafts are 24 feet (7.3 metres) and 20 feet (6.1 metres) in diameter respectively and are both at Cynheidre. The No. 3 Upcast and No. 4 Downcast Shafts, each 18 feet (5.5 metres) in diameter, are three miles (4.6 kilometres) North-East of Cynheidre, near Tumble. The three intake drifts are all at Pentremawr, two miles (3.2 kilometres) North of Cynheidre.
Report by J.S. Marshall Divisional HMI
Plan scanned and pieced together to remake a copy of the original taken from my collection of disaster reports
Carmarthenshire, 6th April 1971. Report number Cmnd 4804. 6 dead & 69 injured.
spontaneous outburst of coal and firedamp which occurred at Cynheidre/Pentremawr Colliery, Carmarthenshire, at about 12 noon on 6 April 1971, when six persons were killed and sixty-nine others suffered varying degrees of asphyxia. Three of the men died in the Road 2 Development and three others in Panel 13, a highly mechanised longwall district around which the firedamp was carried by the main ventilation system.
The Cynheidre/Pentremawr Colliery is in the West Wales Area of the National Coal Board and is situated some five miles (8 kilometres) North of Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, at the Western extremity of the coalfield. Cynheidre and Pentremawr Collieries were linked underground in 1966 and came under one manager in 1970. The Pentremawr Colliery began production in 1875. Sinking of the shafts at Cynheidre Colliery commenced during 1954 and production began in 1960.
There are two downcast shafts, two upcast and three intake drifts, all lying within a circle having a radius of 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometres). The No. 1 Downcast and No. 2 Upcast Shafts are 24 feet (7.3 metres) and 20 feet (6.1 metres) in diameter respectively and are both at Cynheidre. The No. 3 Upcast and No. 4 Downcast Shafts, each 18 feet (5.5 metres) in diameter, are three miles (4.6 kilometres) North-East of Cynheidre, near Tumble. The three intake drifts are all at Pentremawr, two miles (3.2 kilometres) North of Cynheidre.
Report by J.S. Marshall Divisional HMI
Plan scanned and pieced together to remake a copy of the original taken from my collection of disaster reports
Glamorganshire, 22nd November 1956. Report number Cmnd 316. 9 dead & 5 injured
The explosion occurred at Lewis Merthyr Colliery, Glamorganshire, on 22nd November, 1956, when gas in a roadhead cavity was ignited. As a result of the explosion two persons were killed and seven others died of their injuries. Five other persons were injured.
The Lewis Merthyr Colliery is situated in the village of Trehafod some 18 miles north of Cardiff. The present main winding shafts for men and mineral, known as Bertie Pit and Trefor Pit, were sunk in 1878 but high-class steam coal had been produced some ten years earlier from shafts still contained within the Lewis Merthyr mine. There are, in all, six vertical shafts serving the mine. Of these, the House Coal shaft and the Cymmer shaft are used only for pumping purposes. The Lady Lewis shaft is used only for ventilation, serving as an upcast shaft. The Hafod shaft is used as a downcast shaft and also serves as a third means of egress to the surface.
The output of the colliery is some 1,250 tons of coal per day. The number of persons employed underground is 936, and 226 are employed on the surface.
Report by T.A. Jones Divisional HMI
Plan scanned and pieced together to remake a copy of the original taken from my collection of disaster reports
Derbyshire, 30th July 1973. Report number Cmnd 5557. 18 dead & 11 injuired
18 men lost their lives and the other 11 sustained serious bodily injury because the cage in which they were travelling in the No. 3 shaft crashed into the pit bottom as a result of an overwind.
Markham Colliery is one of 14 producing mines in the North Derbyshire Area of the National Coal Board and is situated near Duckmanton about five miles by road to the east of Chesterfield. At the time of the accident the saleable output was 30,000 tons per week with 1,870 men employed below ground and 425 on the surface.
Report by J.W. Calder Chief HMI
Plan scanned and pieced together to remake a copy of the original taken from my collection of disaster reports
On a hot summer night in 1922, fire and toxic gas ripped through a mine shaft nearly a mile beneath the surface, trapping 47 miners. The incident at the Argonaut Gold Mine in Jackson, about 30 miles from Sutter's Mill in Coloma, turned into a 22-day rescue effort...
The Argonaut mine had been discovered in the 1850s by two freed slaves, William Tudor and James Hager. It was destined to become one of California's richest, producing more than $25 million before the federal government closed the nation's gold mines at the beginning of World War II. (Gold was considered nonessential to the war effort.)...
By the early 1920s, the Argonaut's main shaft extended 4,900 feet into a maze of interconnected caverns and honeycombed tunnels. Most miners, primarily immigrants from Italy, Spain and Serbia, earned $4 a day...
Shortly before midnight on Aug. 27, 1922, when most of Jackson was asleep (or occupied in speak-easies and brothels), a fire broke out below 3,000 feet. Most of the men on the night shift were trapped...
A few miners who were stationed closer to the surface clambered out, alerted others and began pouring water down the shaft. By dawn, the townspeople, firefighters and every miner in Amador County had rushed to help. They could hear water hissing as it hit the flames, raging out of control in the impassable shaft...
It took 2 1/2 days, until Aug. 30, to extinguish the blaze. Two rescue teams began to reopen two passageways that connected the Argonaut with its rival and neighbor, the Kennedy Mine. The tunnels had been closed after a 1919 fire...
After laboring for a week, rescuers had yet to reach the miners. But they, and newspapers, remained optimistic -- if inconsistent. A front-page Times story almost two weeks after the fire had begun screamed: "Rescue Crews Hope to Reach Miners in Week." Yet three days earlier, the paper had quoted engineers and mining officials as saying they believed that there was no hope and that 47 coffins had been ordered...
In the depths of Prohibition, the American Red Cross dispensed a couple of shots of whiskey to each rescuer before he entered the tunnel, and a few more when he climbed out...
The liquor was supplied by the federal government as a special "dispensation" and to help bolster morale...
On the evening of Sept. 18, rescuers wearing masks and carrying oxygen tanks inserted a caged canary behind a bulkhead. Several minutes later, the small bird lay lifeless; rescuers lost all hope of finding survivors...
Moving on, the crew watched as rats scurried away from where the remains of two men would be found huddled together. They would be identified as Charles and Arthur O'Berg, father and son. All but one of the other bodies were found nearby...
Devastated townsfolk buried the victims four days later in three cemeteries -- Protestant, Catholic and Greek Orthodox. Forty-seven coffins were placed in the ground, even though the body of the last man would not be found for a year...
It turned out that all of the doomed miners had fled farther into the mine to escape the fire. Trapped nearly a mile from the main entrance, they built two bulkheads and barricaded themselves, trying to stave off deadly carbon monoxide...
The above are portions of an LA Times article, you can read the remainder here-
Yorkshire, 21st March 1973. Report number Cmnd 5419. 7 dead, of these 6 entombed for eternity.
seven men lost their lives as a result of an inrush of water at the face of South 9B district in the Flockton Thin seam. The conditions in the district following the incident were such that only one body could be recovered.
Lofthouse Colliery is in the North Yorkshire Area of the National Coal Board and is situated some 2½ miles north of Wakefield, on the western fringe of the working coalfield. Production began in 1877 and at the time of the inrush the saleable output was 18,500 tons per week with 837 men employed below ground and 207 on the surface.
There are four shafts. The A (downcast) shaft of 18 feet 6 inches diameter and the B (upcast) shaft of 15 feet diameter are at Lofthouse while the Silkstone (downcast) and Beeston (upcast) shafts of 14 feet diameter are at Wrenthorpe, some 1¾ miles to the south. Coal winding is confined to the A shaft with man winding at the B shaft. The Silkstone shaft has winding equipment but there are no winding facilities at the Beeston shaft.
Report by J.W. Calder Chief HMI
Plan scanned and pieced together to remake a copy of the original taken from my collection of disaster reports
Glamorganshire, 17th May 1965. Report number Cmnd 2813.31 dead & 1 injured
The casualties were caused by an explosion which occurred just before 1.00 p.m. in the P. 26 District in the Pentre Seam, the explosion was almost entirely one of firedamp, flame spreading along about 325 yards of face and return roadway and coal dust playing no significant part.
The firedamp involved was emitted into the airway from strata other than the seam being worked and assumed explosive proportions because of a severe reduction in the ventilation circulating the district ; this reduction resulted from a prolonged short-circuit through two access holes in an air bridge (or air crossing) and from a connec¬tion with previous workings ; and the firedamp was ignited by an electric arc within a gate-end switch, which electricians were testing while the front cover was unbolted.
Cambrian Colliery, in the No. 3 Area of the National Coal Board's South Western Division, is situated near the village of Clydach Vale in the Borough of Rhondda, some 20 miles north-west of Cardiff. There are four shafts ; No. 1 Shaft, a downcast sixteen feet in diameter, sunk to the Five Feet Seam at a depth of 506 yards, the present winding level being at the Pentre Seam inset at a depth of 212 yards; the Maindy Shaft, at the former Colliery of that name, elliptical 14 feet by 12 feet, serving as the upcast for the Pentre Seam workings; and No. 3 and No. 4 Shafts, used for workings in the Five Feet, Lower Nine Feet and Bute Seams.
The Colliery employed 816 men at the time of the incident, 654 below ground and 162 on the surface, and the daily output was 700 tons from the Pentre Seam and 300 tons from the Lower Nine Feet and Bute Seams
Report by H.S. Stephenson Chief HMI
Plan scanned and pieced together to remake a copy of the original taken from my collection of disaster reports
Glamorganshire, 17th May 1965. Report number Cmnd 2813.31 dead & 1 injured
The casualties were caused by an explosion which occurred just before 1.00 p.m. in the P. 26 District in the Pentre Seam, the explosion was almost entirely one of firedamp, flame spreading along about 325 yards of face and return roadway and coal dust playing no significant part.
The firedamp involved was emitted into the airway from strata other than the seam being worked and assumed explosive proportions because of a severe reduction in the ventilation circulating the district ; this reduction resulted from a prolonged short-circuit through two access holes in an air bridge (or air crossing) and from a connec¬tion with previous workings ; and the firedamp was ignited by an electric arc within a gate-end switch, which electricians were testing while the front cover was unbolted.
Cambrian Colliery, in the No. 3 Area of the National Coal Board's South Western Division, is situated near the village of Clydach Vale in the Borough of Rhondda, some 20 miles north-west of Cardiff. There are four shafts ; No. 1 Shaft, a downcast sixteen feet in diameter, sunk to the Five Feet Seam at a depth of 506 yards, the present winding level being at the Pentre Seam inset at a depth of 212 yards; the Maindy Shaft, at the former Colliery of that name, elliptical 14 feet by 12 feet, serving as the upcast for the Pentre Seam workings; and No. 3 and No. 4 Shafts, used for workings in the Five Feet, Lower Nine Feet and Bute Seams.
The Colliery employed 816 men at the time of the incident, 654 below ground and 162 on the surface, and the daily output was 700 tons from the Pentre Seam and 300 tons from the Lower Nine Feet and Bute Seams
Report by H.S. Stephenson Chief HMI
Plan scanned and pieced together to remake a copy of the original taken from my collection of disaster reports