MINING DISASTER.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 3778, 10 December 1907, Page 3

MINING DISASTER.

Great Loss of Life. New York, Dec. 7. A terrible mining accident, involving great loss of life, occurred yesterday at Monongah, near Fairmount, in the Northern part of the State of West Virginia. The scene of the catastrophe was the Baltimore Coal Company’s mine, where a tremendous explosion took place. So great was the force of the explosion that all houses within a radius of eight miles were more or less shaken. As the result of the explosion two pits of the Baltimore mine, mutually connected, and situated on opposite sides of the western fork of the Mouongahela river, were set on fire. Some hundreds of men were at work in the mine at the time, and a number of them were hurled through ventilating shafts. The actual loss of life is not yet known, but it is feared four hundred and twenty-five persons have perisehd. The fumes were so dense that search parties who entered the mine were unable to penetrate them. Some bodies were discovered by explorers so mutilated as to be unrecognisable. All passages into the mine are blocked by fallen debris. It will be a miracle if any of the entombed men are saved.