U.S. mine disaster
(N. Z.P. A. -Reuter—Copyright) HYDEN (Kentucky), Jan. 1. Mine rescue workers braved carbon monoxide fumes 1500 feet below ground yesterday to recover the bodies of 38 men killed in Kentucky’s worst mining disaster. An explosion had ripped through a shaft of the Finley Coal Company’s bituminous mine, which is dug horizontally into a mountain on the edge of the small town of Hyden, in eastern Kentucky, about 50 miles from the Virginia border. Only one miner escaped the blast. He was standing just inside the mouth of the shaft, and the force of the explosion threw him clear. The Federal Bureau of Mines has begun an investigation. Mine officials speculate that the explosion was caused either by a’n accumulation of fine coal dust, ignited by a spark or by mishandled explosives.
Weeping relatives rushed to the pithead, but it was six hours before the first bodies were found. Many were mutilated beyond recognition and mine officials told relatives: “The chance that anyone survived is remote.” All 38 bodies were recovered.
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Bibliographic details
Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32494, 2 January 1971, Page 15
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173U.S. mine disaster Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32494, 2 January 1971, Page 15
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