20 MEN KILLED
DURHAM COLLIERY NIGHT EXPLOSION RESCUERS' GALLANT BID DEADLY FUMES RISKED (N.Z.P.A.—Reuter— Copyright.) (10.30 a.m.) LONDON, Aug. 24. Twenty miners are dead as a result of an exolosion at midnight in the Morison North pit on Annfield Plain, County Durham. Four men arc in hospital suffering from severe burns. Tlie pit is one of '.lie. oldest in the district. An intense underground fire started in 1926 and flared up again in 1943. The workings, whicn were sealed off because of the fire, were reclaimed a few months ago. Rescuers toiled 450 ft. below ground about threcquarters of a mile from the bottom of the shaft. The pitmen who escaped the force of the explosion which brought heavy falls from the roof, helped the rescuers.
The men in hospital owe their lives to the prompt action of five of their colleagues who braved the deadly after-effects of the blast to bring tnem to safety.
One rescuer said: “We felt the hoi blast, mostly dust and then acnct fumes. We dashed 200 or 300 yards and got 10 men. to the bottom of the shaft where there was fresh air but only h\e were alive.”
A long procession cf sad-faced men and weeping women passed tnrough the ambulance room at the mine wmch is a temporary mortuary lor the bodies of the victims. __
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Bibliographic details
Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22416, 25 August 1947, Page 5
Word Count
22320 MEN KILLED Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22416, 25 August 1947, Page 5
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