TERRIBLE COLLIERY DISASTER.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 458, 29 March 1890, Page 4

TERRIBLE COLLIERY DISASTER.

300 MEN ENTOMBED. ' A colliery explosion, one of the most appalling that has occurred in the South Wales district within living memory, occurred early on the morning of February 6th at the Llanerch Pits, Abersychan. Three hundred men, forming a full morning shift, went down at seven o’clock, and the last man had scarcely settled to work when a terrific explosion took place. At the moment of telegraphing, there was every reason to believe that about 150 men had lost their lives by this awful disaster. The colliery belongs, with half-a-dozen others, to Messrs Partridge and Jones, and the shaft is situated on the top of a hill not far from Abersychan.. Several seams of coal of dilFerent qualities are worked in the same pit, but the output is chiefly that of the wellknown Welsh steam coal. Only a short time ago an explosion by which five men were killed occurred in the adjoining Glyn Pits, which afterward were flooded, and there is reason to believe that the gas dislodged by the water found its way in large quantities into the Llanerch Pits. The

EXPLOSION WAS OF TREMENDOUS FORCE, and was heard for a considerable distance. The shaft machinery and other works at the pit’s mouth were almost entirely destroyed by the force of the explosion, which was accompanied by flame and followed by dense volumes of smoke, which, ascending the shaft, confirmed the widespread alarm first given by the noise of the' outburst itself. The news spread rapidly throughout the district, and hundreds of men rushed to the pit’s mouth and eagerly offered their services in the dangerous work of exploring the colliery. Skilful hands were soon at work, and within a couple of hours from the time of the explosion the first party of explorers had penetrated the workings by way of the water pit. The task was, as usual in such cases, attended by considerable peril, but there was an ample supply of sturdy volunteers, and arrangements were made for relief gangs to supply the places of those who became exhausted by their efforts or overcome by the gas, of which there was still a considerable quantity in the lower workings. THE FIRST MAN RESCUED was Owen Morgan, the overman of the day shift, who was found in a semi unconscious condition, but comparatively little injured. He was eagerly questioned by the explorers, who were most anxious to know exactly in what part of the extensive workings the explosion had occurred, but the poor fellow was not in a condition to give information. The explorers, making their way along the workings with great caution, soon afterwards came across a sadly - mutilated corpse, and then in succession recovered three more bodies. None of them were recognisable to the explorers, and in at least one case the state of the body was such that identification by anyone seemed practically impossible, especially in view of the tact that the Welsh steam-coal miners as a rule work with little clothing. The gloomiest forebodings' were now indulged in, fbr it seemed difficult to imagine that any of the men who were at work in tji® Remoter parts of 1 the colliery could have escaped with their lives. Even at a distance the tremendous force of the explosion was everywhere manifested by the state of the workings, and the mutilated condition of the bodies clearly told the same terrible tale, At the pit’s mouth the arrival of Morgan was hailed as an omen which justified the hope that the disaster might not be more serious than that which had occurred in the Glyn Pits a few days previously. But when the four bodies reached the bank, and especially when their condition was noticed, the unfortunate people, men, women, and children alike, gave way to despair. SOME WEPT HYSTERICALLY, but in most instances the sorrow was silent, and the presence of the strong force of police which formed a cordon round the pit’s mouth seemed unnecessary, save for the purpose of keeping the ground clear for those concerned in the work of rescue and relief. As time wore on without further discoveries the gloom of the watchers deepened, but when most of them had begun to abandon.all hope live men began to reach the bank, not singly, but in groups, alihost as fpjjckiy ! as the cage' could be pullbd up anil lowered." 1 Hope revived, but the revulsion of fueling was so great that not » few shed tears for very joy. The rescued men were in . sore plight when found. Some were unconscious when discovered by bhe brave explorers, and few' had escaped severe burns or other injuries. Some six or rgyeh had been burned in a most dreadful banner all over the body, and the surgeons, info whose h&nfii they Were cbmmitted at }jhe earljest’jkwsible moment, ! ’cdhld'‘^iVe

little hope that they would survive. From the less injured men the explorers ascertained that the seat of the explosion was a remote part of the workings known as Cook’s Slope. None of the men, dead or living, reached up to that moment had come from that level, and the inference was sadly too plain that if the explosion had been of such tremendous force as to

KILL AND MAIM AT A CONSIDERABLE DISTANCE,

the men working in its immediate vicinity could have had small chance indeed of their lives. The efforts of the explorers, reinforced row by fresh men, were blmnceforward directed to the task of reaching and entering Cook's Slope. As that le\et was approached awful traces of the explosion were met with at intervals in the form of mutilated bodies, and the wreckage of doors, brattices, and the like. There was only one slight consolation obtainable by the heartsick explorers, and that was that in every case death had been instantaneous, for no man could have lived for a moment before the full force of the tremendous blast. Some of the bodies were legless, in other cases the arms had been torn violently from the trunks, and all were hideously burned or otherwise mutilated about the face, rendering identification difficult or impossible, as in the case of the earliest-found victims. The explorers were now a long distance from the shaft, and further help had to be obtained in order to expedite the work of recovering and sending up the bodies. As each reached the bank pitiful scenes were witnessed, the anxious relatives and friends of missing men endeavouring to press forward to the pit’s mouth. But the horror reached its climax when the mutilated bodies had been taken to adjacent buildings, where they were exposed to the crowd for the necessary PURPOSE OF IDENTIFICATION. Early in the afternoon the exploring parties reached a point adjacent bo Cook’s Slope, where 120 men had been at work. No one entertained the hope ot finding a single man alive in that level, and up to the moment of telegraphing the worst foreboding had been justified by the result. By four o’clock in the afternoon 110 men had been sent to bank alive. Of these no fewer than 90 had sustained burns and other injuries of a serious character necessitating medical care. Some of these men cannot recover. About the same time 90 bodies had been sent up, many of which have not been identified. There is little reason to doubt that at least 60 bodies are still in Cook’s Slope, so that the death-roll will reach the appalling total of 150. One of the men who escaped from the mine bold how he and the others who were with him heard the terrible report of the explosion, and, guessing what had occurred, ran for their very lives.