PIT DISASTER

Manawatu Standard, Volume LII, Issue 267, 11 October 1932, Page 7

PIT DISASTER

NINETEEN LIVES LOST.

BRITISH COALFIELD ACCIDENT, CAGE CR ASHES 700 FEET. (United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.) Received October 11. 8.45 a.m. LONDON, Oct. 10. Crashing to the bottom oi a shaft 700 ft. deep at Plank Line Colliery, near Leigh, Lancashire, nineteen miners who were descending in a lift were killed.

The occupants of the power house above heard a dull crash from the depths as the cage struck water. Only one occupant survived. The colliery signalman said: “The double-decker cage went past like a breeze and dashed into the sump. I heard the cry of one miner, Mr KilEhaw, who was struggling in the water and I threw a rope and pulled him to a raft. I then lowered a ladder by which he reached the landing.” SURVIVOR’S GRAPHIC STORY. THEORY OF OVERCROWDING. Received October 11, 12.25 p.ra. LONDON, Oct. 10. The general manager of the colliery attributes the Plank Lane disaster to overcrowding of the cage. The nineteen men were drowned in the sump hole. Mr Kilshaw, who is six feet in height and weighs fifteen stone, says: “Everything was right until we were twenty yards from the bottom. Then the cage suddenly stopped. A moment later the cage hurtled to the bottom. Being the last man in, I had my back to the gate. Using all my strength, I managed to lift the gate just enough to scramble out and was shot to tne surface as my senses were leaving me.” Doctors and ambulance men worked for hours extricating the bodies. In two cases there was a flicker of life and oxygen was administered for hours.

Forty children are fatherless as a result of the tragedy.