COLLIERY DISASTER.

Hokitika Guardian, 22 September 1921, Page 3

COLLIERY DISASTER.

AUSTRALIAN AND N.Z. CABLE ASSOCIATION. CAUSE OF DISASTER. BRISBANE, Sept. 21. Mr Watson, General Manager of the Cliillagoc Mines .was prominent in the rescue work, at Mount Mulligan Mine leading most parties in the dangerous task. He agrees with the view that the explosioji was due to dust, and not to gas. THE VICTIMS. BRISBANE. Sept. 21. Tin. miners who were entombed at Mount Mulligan included at least seme of a pmly of 13 Victorian miners, who went to work at Mount Mulligan under an engagement. A con.iderable proportion of the missing are married men with families A relief fund has been started.

The member for the district, just prior to the disaster received a petition asking for increased accouiniudntioi at Mt Mulligan school, the signatures including many of those entombed. c .

:(7 BODIES RECOVERED. BRISBANE. Sept. 21. g : . far ,37 bodies have been recovered from Mount Mulligan. In the opinion of the searchers the last batch of bodies were those of men who died from suffocation. They were charred beyond recognition. The latest recoveries were gruesome and so effected the rescuers as to tompel them to use respirators. The miners are of opinion that unless the bodies are all got out immediately they will not he recoverable, as decomposition is rapidly setting in. OVER-EAGER RESCU ERS. BRISBANE, Sept, 21. At Mt Mulligan Mine the eagerness of the men to push on the work of rescue, in the face of great danger, is embarrassing to those in charge. One particularly pathetic instance is reported. An elderly miner, named Dave Hutton, whose two sons and son-in-law are entombed, has seized every •opportunity to evade those guarding the entrance. When the police ordered him away, a comrade replied:—‘‘lie has been in all day. hut vvd e.nnot keep him out.” Pleading for some small duty, and promising to come hack straight away. Hutton would gain his point. Others of the exhausted men have refused to take a rest until they were assured that they would lie called ill time to join the next gang. Sufficient skilled men have now been got together in various districts to conduct the experienced work required in exploring the winkings. ' Mr Hewlett, secretary of the Chillag,:e Company said that the officers and men freely used acetylene lamps, and appeared' to have no doubt regarding their perfect safety. He considered it possible that the explosion was the result of tapping a, gty< pocket.

THE MISSING. BRISBANE, Sept. 21. Thera arc 35 Mt Mulligan miners still missing. Everybody there is engaged in work in connection with the disaster. Plante are making coffins. Others are digging trench graves. The rumour that the mine was Mite lias now been denied. It has also been ascertained ‘hat the majority of the entombed men are unmarried. All the men were insured and in each instance payment of compensation of not less than £3OO sterling will follow at a, later date. MINERS SEND RELIEF BRISBANE, Sept. 21. The Miners' Federation at Newcastle has sent £2OOO for relief of the distress at Mt Mulligan. His 'Majesty the King, through the Governor of Queensland, has cabled sympathy '“with all the relatives of those killed, and the others who suffer, ed through this unfortunate calamity.” ■Vi BODIES RECOVERED. (Received This Way at 1.5 p.m.) BRISBANE, Sept. 22 Fifty-six bodies have been recovered from .Milligan mine. Rescue gangs are working heroically, hut the atmosphere in the mine is so had that it is doubtful if work can continue even with the aid of resiiiralors. Watson (Manager) collapsed and now has a high temperature and is in the doctor’s hands, suffering acutely. He had refused to rest and repeated!*,* led parties into the tunnel. THE IDENTIFIED. BRISBANE. Sept. 22 The names of others identified are Rjsley, McCormack, Marks, J. Drier jiinr., J. Drier sent - ., Johnson, Ilarn<<ui Lomax. Nixon. Jackson, Pole. James McColm, Mnnuhey, Butcher, Movie, Speirs, Ostle, Henry Carson, Jus. Mansfield, Rawson, O’llallonin. Fogarty, Thompson, Seymour and Fisher.