EXPLOSION AND FIRE

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 78, 23 November 1931, Page 5

EXPLOSION AND FIRE

(Press Assn.—

WALLS AND ROOFS COLLAPSE HALF A MILE BELOW THE SURFACE I "SEETHING MASS OF FLAMES" THOUSAND MEN IN PIT i

By Telegraph— Copyright.)

Ree. Nov. 21, 5.0 p.m. • - 'LONDON, Saturday. Half a mile underground, a disastrous explosion occurred at [ the Bently Colliery, near Don- | caster. Qver 1000 men were in the. pit at the time and hun- j l dreds were cut off by falls from j ; the roof . | There was a terrible scene in i the vicinity of the explosion one I survivor says. Roofs and walls | came down like a thunder-clap I and the place seemed a seething I maSs of flames. The explosion blew him into I the air. , I Doctors and rescuers wrough mirI acles of lif e-saving far into the night f and ahout 1 o'clock in the morning 1 14 dead and 26 injured . had been I brought to the surf ace. Eighteen dead and seven others remained entombed. "It was just like a mass of flames," stated one man who rushed- into the doomed colliery ±1 miles from the pit bottom, from which. not a single I occupant is believed to have eseaped death or ingury. "It was perf ect hell. We tried and tried to get through, but it was impossible."

There was a second explosion at [ mid-night in which a rescuer was | blown to pieces. The main explosion [ was -heard to reverberate over the [whole area. Doctors, clergy and wo-men-f olk rushed to the colliery. I The veteran Mr. Herbert Smith, expresident of the Miners' Federation, insisted on descending the pit despite protests. Mr. Tom Williams, a member of the House of Commons, j was among the rescuers, and Major Barber one of the owners worked all night long until exhausted. A crowd of weeping women remained at the pit heads throughout the bitterly cold night. In addition to 25 now known to be dead, five of the missing are believed to be dead. It is feared that five of the injured have been blinded. Working parties are sealing up the Scene of the disaster to prevent fire spreading.

Mr. Herbert Smith, who isYO years of age, remained below for 12 hours and ref used to come to the surf ace until he realised that the reseue of the missing was impossible. ' Mr. Tom Williams, paying a tribute to the heroism of the rescuers, said : "They worked desperately all night loUg amid terrifie heat. Only the oxygen apparatus enabled them to exist in the foul atmosphere. One was overeome and died."