A SHOCKING DISASTER

Hokitika Guardian, 23 October 1930, Page 6

A SHOCKING DISASTER

DEATH ROLL 95. (United Pr*w Ai»ociation—By Electric Telegraph— Copyright). - -COLOGNE, Oct. 21. The death roll at Altclorf increased to at least ninety-five, and seventy-six injured. Many are still entombed, and their fate is uncertain. Thai victims include numerous ufficiaM and men employed in the pithead buildings which .went skywards when two thousand pounds of dynamite stored at a depth of a thousand feet, exploded, as the result of excessive temperatures, The terrific detonation was heard mijjas iawatf. (Gigantic flameto and,' black clouds of smoke arose. Beams, pieces of the roof, walls, and windows were-hurled in the air along with the machinery. An 150 foot tower, containing a pit cage, was reduced to debris from which came cries of the wounded.

' Some of (those killed were found 250 yards from the scene of the explosion. A woman clerk was amongst the slain- Another clerk was liu r !ed against an iron safe and killed. (Rescue operations were not hamperPd ? iby’ gas, (but some, of those who escaped state; that part of. the. pit is on: fire. , ; • THE ALSDORF EXPLOSION. 231 DEAD. (Received this day at 9.40 a.m.) LONDON,, October 22. The "Alsdorf death roll is now 231 dead. Ninety-six were injured. Througliout the night rescue gangs cleared up the debris find found the large dynamite stores intact, proving the supposition that the explosion was caused by igniting thereof, was baseless. Marks on the doors and galleries indicate that the explosion at first occurred in the pit itself, and later it progressed to the side galleries, smashing, the air gates and giving 'access to' ‘fire damp.' Many died h>; asphyxiation, others were drowned vin the water which • accumulated owing to the destruction of the pumps. Many of 1 the injured are not expected to recover. The worst effects' of-the explosion were experienced fifteen hundred ■ feet below the surface, where eighty-nine were killed. ,