TERRIBLE COLLIERY EXPLOSION.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1059, 25 January 1883, Page 1

TERRIBLE COLLIERY EXPLOSION.

Another of those terrible colliery explosions, which periodically . desolate our great mining districts, occurred on 7th November, at Clay Grogs, Derbyshire, It took place at the No 2 Sparkho'ni' 1 Pit, Dauesmoor Colliery, belong’ng to the Clayeross Coal and Iron Corapam, Fortunately a comuarstivelv small number of men hi the

pit at the .ini.'; r I '> ■’ 1 i*L in n went down the -am ■ m 'ruing. ;ih >ut half the number came u;> soon after Had the full complement of works b<* n down there would have been 300 men in the pit. Scare dv had th- men been drawn up, Laving so ne fifty men behind them, wlnm a loud explosion took plain. 1 1,0 chair was hhuvn from the bottom of tin* sbalt mi >! d >n u h into the bead gear. So ijrcn.t wa< die force of the explosion that the sound was heard at a distance of font mi es, and stones, wood, and other mao-rials were thrown into the air nearly 100 yards. These were followed by a d-mse cloud of smoke and dirt. Th> heavy stones and iron forming the pit top were hurled from their seat, and the men who were on the hank at the time were blown a considerable distance and

much hurt, one, it is fear’d, l> ini? fatally injured. They were immediately conveyed to the hospital. So loud was the report of tin explosion that although the people in that district were not so painfudy familiar with the symptoms of underground disaster as in some parts, a

p mic at once arose. Screaming we’en and children were at the fatal spot within a few minutes. Meanwhile no time had been lost in giving the alarm to (lie officials, and as all the seven pits of the comp-niv, which were about sev n miles anart, are connected by telepnone, this w T as rapidly eff-cted, The fi>st to arrive at the pit were the general manager, the engineer, and the superintendent. As usual on snob melancholy occasions, there «ns no 'nek ot hra*‘p hearts and ready hands, while the officials exerted them-edv’s t-> the utmost. A formidable obstacle, how" ever encountered the rescuers at the very out«et. Owing to the desk nation of the headgear, it was impossible to get into the pit by the ordinary way, ') ho exploring party, which consisted of the underground manager and an organised gang of volunteers, descended a shaft a mile distant, and so entered the mine. Three men were, after some difficulty, found .- live and conveyed to the hank. Later on two hoys, sons of the manager, were found by their father alive. Many of the volunteers who were first to go down were completely overcome by the firedamp. The scene at the nit’s month soon aft-w the exmo-ion was of th«

■ ost distressing character, as the agonised relations of the missing men waited hour after hour to learn their fate. The pit, which is situated at Danesmonre, one mile east of Olay Cross, on the Rrewash Valley Railway, gives employment to from 200 to 300 hands. It is considered a very safe

one, and has 1 een in operation s'nce the 18fh Mar, 18G8, and s-inen that time no really serious outbreak of gas has taken place. The latest intel'igonco states that there is little doubt that nearly fifty lives have been saerified, and the catastrophe is, without doubt, the most serious that has ever occurred in Derbyshire. The above exclusion

prrvi’S to have been much more scri ms than was at first supposed. It is now known that 45 lives are lost, aud there is every reason to fear that some of those rescued may yet succumb to their injui is. The explosion has been traced to a remote and partially unused Mffl

tion of the workings, one side of was regarded as dangerous, visited hy the fire-trier, The wasexceptio ally severe; it hurled bloom of masonry wieghing taotons for soh distance out of the mouth ot the sham The explorers in their search were dr : v. n back hy the impure air in their efforts to get at the bodies, M