MINE DISASTER IN BRITAIN

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22136, 5 July 1937, Page 9

MINE DISASTER IN BRITAIN

THIRTY KILLED BY EXPLOSIONS

RESCUERS PERISH IN RESULTING FIRE

LONDON, July 2. Fire caused an explosion on the working face of the Holditch main colliery at Chesterton, North Staffordshire. The casualty list, which includes rescuers, is 30 dead and eight gravely injured.

It has been ascertained that the fire has not been extinguished, but is spreading, and engineers have decided to flood the pit immediately.

Seventeen bodies that were located below ground have been removed.

An earlier message said that during rescue operations and the sealing-up of the affected area a second explosion occurred, involving 18 men, who included mine officials and inspectors. Four members of the rescue team were overcome by gas, and all these are trapped in the pit. Their recovery alive is believed to be hopeless.

There were 200 men underground when a sheet of flame from the neighbourhood of the coal-outting machinery caused a stampede. A count disclosed that two men were left behind and cut off by fire. The overseer, although lacking a respirator, tried vainly to reach them, but they perished. Three were killed in the first explosion. The second explosion occurred three hours later, while rescue work was in full swing. Flames hampered work, and lorries rushed tons of sand to the pit to seal off the burning area. Ten rescue teams worked until midnight, but though it was understood that the fire was smothered, heat prevented access to the actual scene of the disaster.