COLLIERY ON FIRE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14219, 16 November 1909, Page 5

COLLIERY ON FIRE.

FATE OF ENTOMBED MEN.

FOUR HUNDRED IN THE MINE,

SLIGHT , HOPE ■ OF RESCUE. By Telegraph.—Press Association.— >. New York, November 14. Advices have been received from Spring Valley, Illinois, of an appalling mining disaster, in a coal • mine belonging to the St. Paul Company, of Charry. The mine took fire and an explosion occurred, while the full shift was at work below, and. the main shaft was a roaring furnace in an incredibly short space' of time. Very few of those below managed to reach the surface, and. it is estimated that , over 400 miners were burned to. death. (Received November : 15, 10 p.m.) New York, November 15. A fire in a bundle of hay, which smouldered r until it broke into flames, caused the mine explosion. It is reported: that of the 434 men who were-below— of them Austrians and Italians— near the main shaft escaped. . Four hundred retreated to the furthermost ends of the galleries, and it was feared early to-day that they had perished with the rest. - • - > V The flooding of the pit was impossible, and, with the hope of checking the flames, the . manager closed the mouth of the shaft, six would-be rescuers being thereby suffocated. Later, two volunteers, wearing oxygen helmets, tested the temperature at a depth of 380 ft,' and found it nearly normal, indicating that th© Are was then extinguished; ~ There" is'some hope, though slight, of effecting rescues of the imprisoned men.