Terrible Colliery Disaster.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XI, Issue 1639, 19 February 1886, Page 2

Terrible Colliery Disaster.

The Rhondda Valley; m kouth jVales, has been thejseenejqf a. fearful colliery idisaster. _ About twenty minutes to three ;on December 23rd an explosion took [place at the No. 2 Mardy pit, near SPontypridd/ The mine had its full coin- ' iplement ot men— namely, 520 ,• and it jwas, at, first feared that the loss of life j would amount 'to 200- 6uOh& Jactjffal j number found dead was 74, and 10 'others were bo badly burnt that the jdeaths have been increased to 79. The 'explorers penetrated the workings east;ward, finding other men m.; safety,, who jr^ceived their intended deliverers with ! cries of delight and hand-clasping. .The ! explorers began to meet with. falls of I roofs and waU&' ;Men, m groups, tfere j found retreating from the south-west 'district of the mine, and struggling through these falls. One of these groups was bearing its wounded, and assistance had to be summoned, for the bearers were hardly able to crawl themselves. The explorers found no fewer than 60 men hemmed m by an enormous fall on the south-west main intake. Other re- ' lief gangs were meanwhile spreading through the workings and struggling to open up passages of escape through the falls. After hours of heroic search the last, man was got put who could be found with life m him, but the dead were left until" the* morning. A very unusual | number of single ihen ar^ amongst the | victims of the catastrophe, bat it seems \ there are 30 widows and 72 orphans. \