MINE DISASTER

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXII, Issue 11494, 23 November 1931, Page 5

MINE DISASTER

TERRIBLE EXPLOSION AT BENTLY 1000 MEN BELOW AT TIME HEROIC WORiTbY RESCUERS “IT WAS PERFECT HELL” (U.P.A. by Elec. Tel. Copyright.) (Received Nov. 22, 5.5 p.m.) LONDON, Nov. 21. Half a milo underground, a disastrous explosion occurred at Bently colliery, near Doncaster. More than one thousand men, were in tho pit at the time and hundreds were cut off by falls from the roof. There was a scene in the vicinity of tho explosion. One survivor says:-

“The roof and walls came down liko a thunderclap and the place seemed a seething mass of flames. The explosion blow me into the air.” Doctors and masked rescuers performed miracles of life-saving far into tho night. By one o’clock in the morning, .fourteen dead and twenty-six injured had been brought to tho surface. Eighteen dead and seven others remained entombed. “It was just a mass of flames”, said one man, who rushed into the doomed gallery, one and a-half miles from, the pit bottom, in which not a single occupant is believed to have escaped death or injury. “It was perfect hell. We tried and tried to get through, but it was impossible.” There was a second explosion at midnight, in which .a rescuer was blown to pieces in a moment. The main explosion was heard reverberating over the whole area. Doctors, clergy, and womenfolk rushea to the colliery. "Veteran. Herbert Smith, an expros'dent of the Miners’ Federation, insisted on descending, despite protests.

Tom Williams, a member of the How-e of Commons, was among the rescuers and Major Barber, one of the owners, worked below all night, long until exhausted. A crowd of weeping women remained at the pithead throughout the bitterly cold night. Later. Additional to the twenty-five dead at Bently colliery, five missing are believed to be dead. It is feared that five of the injured have been blinded. Working parties are sealing up the scene of the disaster to prevent the fire spreading. Herbert Smith, who is 70 years old, remained below for twelve hours and refused to go to the surface until he realised that the rescue of the missing was hopeless. Tom "Williams, paying a tribute to the heroism of the rescuers, said: “They worked desperately all night long in terrific heat. Only the oxygen apparatus enabled them to exist in the foul atmosphere. One was overcome and died.” DEATH~ROLL TOTALS 31 (U.P.A. by Elec. Tel- Copvnsht.) (Received Nov. 23, 12.6 a.m.) LONDON, Nov. 22. Tho Bently death roll is 34, apart from the missing. Several of those injured are not expected to survive.