EXPLOSION AT THE GREYMOUTH COAL COMPANY'S PIT. (Grey River Argus, 25th August.)

Evening Post, Volume XV, Issue 211, 8 September 1877, Page 1 (Supplement)

EXPLOSION AT THE GREYMOUTH COAL COMPANY'S PIT. (Grey River Argus, 25th August. )

An explosion of gas took place yesterday afternoon, at the mine of the Greymouth Coal Company, on the south side of the river, by which four men wtre seriously injured, one of them it is feared fatally. About five o'clock a loud rumbling noise was heard, followed by the appearance of a great sheet of flame from the shaft of the company, which told the experienced miners in the neighbourhood that a serious accident had taken place. On reaching the mouth of the shaft, it was found that the temporary poppet heads had been blown to pieces, and that the braceman, Charle3_ Crawford, had been struck by .some timbers and thrown a distance of 50ft. ; and a heavy trolly which was lying near had been overturned, and blown several feet away. As it was known that there were three men down the shaft, the manager, Mr. Simpson, at once ordered the engine of the compressor (which supplies the shaft with air) to be put on, and the bucket, which was down below, to be hoisted. This was at once done, and on the bucket coming to the surface two of the men, James Day and John Kerr, were found to be in it, both badly burned. There still being a third man (fcfassall) below, Thomas Brown and A. Arbuckle at once volunteered to go down the shaft, a work of great risk. On reaching the bottom they found Hassall on the ground, badly burned and bruised. The three men Crawford, Kerr, and Hassall were at once brought to town by train, and taken to the hospita', Day being apparently least injured was taken to his own honse. On examination at the hospital it was found that Hassall had an arm and several ribs broken, besides being badly burned, and Kerr was also very severely burned. Crawford had been struck on the back with some of the timber, and was otherwise severely injured. The shaft is 670 ft deep, and the men were firing the last three shots to complete the contract when the accident happened, the cause of which

was very simple. It was well known that there was ga3 in the shaft, and to prevent accidents Davy lamps were used and no naked lights allowed The method of lighting the fuse is by a red hot piece of iron, and if the fuse is cut clean with a sharp knife, no Hame comes from it ; in this instance the fuse had a ragged edge, and on applying the hot iron to li'ht it, the few grains of powder on the edge caused a slight ilame, which at once exploded the gas. This was immediately followed by a second explosion of stone from the charge of dynamite which had been lighted by the fuse, aud how the three men were not blown to pieces is a miracle. The men state that they were first iujured by the gas explosion and the timber displaced by it falling down the shaft, and then by the stones thrown by the second explosion. Later in the evening a messenger came to town for Dr. Morice to attend on Day, who had suffered a relapse, and was found to be much more seriously burned than was at first supposed.