ENTOMBED MINERS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10044, 14 May 1910, Page 5

ENTOMBED MINERS.

EXPLOSION IN A COLLIERY 187 MEN CAUGHT. BIG DEATH ROLL FEARED. THE MINE ON FIRE. United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph Capyright, Received May 13, 11 a.m. LONDON, May 12. An explosion occured at the Wellington Pit, Whitehaven. Of one hundred and thirty persons entombed, four have been rescued. The pit belongs to the Earl of Lonsdale.

Two of the rescued belonged to a gang of thirteen. The rest failed to reach the shaft. The iinne is on fire.

UNDER THE SEA. THREE MILES FROM LAND. RESCUERS APPROACH THE FIRE. Received May 13, 11 a.m. LONDON, May 12.

The majority of the entombed miners, are in a deep seam under the sea three miles from land, and a mile from those who were rescued.

RESCUE PARTIES GIVE NO HOPE.

Received May 14, 12.45 a.m. LONDON, May 13

The rescue parties are still baffled and theie is terrible disappointment at their returning and reporting the task of rescue impissible. There is little hope of vsal ing off the flames. The Fire Inspector ot Mines ordered them to desist from lurther work. Mr Steel?, manager of the pit, stated that the resr-uers gained three hundred yards on the fire, which was five hundred yards from the shaft at tie bottom. It was impossible for ?ny of the entombed men to teturn to the intake, it being filled with flames, and the return route fouled by noxious gases.

The fird drove the rescuers back, and their lamps repeatedly exploded, and the light would not live in the atmosphere. It is believed that one party of sixteen of the entombed men is behind a closed doer.