Mining fatalities

Press, 19 September 1985, Page 1

Mining fatalities

Only rarely does New Zealand have a year free of mining fatalities. The last year in which no fatal accident was reported in New Zealand mines was 1983, and the last time before that was 1948. On average between four or five people are killed underground in New Zealand each year, mainly in separate incidents. Multiple fatalities are less frequent. New Zealand’s worst mining disaster remains the Brunner mine explosion of March 26, 1896, in which 67 men were killed. A short list of mining

disasters, by no means exhaustive, would include: • February 21, 1879.— Kaitangata coalmine explosion: 35 killed.

• March 26, 1896.— Brunner mine explosion: 67 killed.

• September 12, 1914.— Explosion in Ralph’s mine, Huntly: 43 killed.

• December 3, 1926.— Nine miners killed in explosion at the Dobson mine.

• September 11, 1939.— Huntly, 11 victims asphyxiated while investigating underground gas leaks in the Glen Afton mine. • November 6, 1940.—

Five killed by explosion in a mine at Ten Mile bluff, on the Greymouth-Westport coast road.

• January 17, 1958.— Four killed at the Westhaven mine, Mangarakau, in Nelson province. • January 19, 1967.—Explosion at the Strongman mine near Greymouth kills 19.

• February 24, 1970.— Four killed when a section of the Kaimai tunnel, then under construction, collapsed. Seven other men rescued after being trapped for two days.