34 Dead and Others Missing

Horowhenua Chronicle, 23 November 1931, Page 7

34 Dead and Others Missing

TERRIBLE COLLIERY DISASTER TERRIFIC EXPLOSION IN DONCASTER MINE Received Sunday, 9.50 p.m. LONDON, Nov. 21. Half a mile underground a disastrous explosion occurred at Bently colliery near Doncaster. More than a thousand men were in the pit at the time and hundreds were cut off by falls from the roof. Thirty-five are dead. There was a terrible scene in the vicinity of the explosion. A survivor says the roof and walls came down like a thunderclap and the place seemed to be a seething mass of flames. The explosion blew him into the air. Doctors and masked rescuers performed miracles of life-saving far into the night and by one o ’clock in the morning fourteen dead and 26 injured were brought to the surface while eighteen dead and seven others remain entombed. ‘ ‘lt 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. 11 It was perfect hell. V\ e tried and tried to get through but it was impossible. ’’ There was a second explosion at midnight in which the rescuer was blown to pieces in a moment. The explosion was heard reverberating over the whole area. Doctors, clergy and womenfolk rushed to tae colliery. The veteran Herbert Smith, ex-president of the Miners ’ Federation, insisted on descending despite protests. Tom Williams, a member of the House of Commons, was also 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 bitreny cold night. It is feared that five of the injured have been blinded. Working parties are sealing up the scene of the disastei to prevent the fire spreading. Herbert Smith, who is 70 years old, remained below for 12 hours and refused to go to the surface until he realised that further rescue was hopeless. Mr. Williams, paying 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. Deathroll Still Mounts Received Monday, 1.0 a.m. LONDON, Nov. 22. The Bentley death roll is 34, apart from those missing and several of the injured who are not expected to survive.