KILLINGWORTH MINE

Otago Witness, Issue 3030, 10 April 1912, Page 25

KILLINGWORTH MINE

WORK TO BE RESUMED. SYDNEY, April 8. An examination of the Killingworth i mine at Newcastle has proved that the commissioner's theory, formed in 1910, that J the explosion was caused by fire in the ' sealod-off portion, is wrong. There is no trace of fire there. Work in the mine will be resumed immediately. Un December 7, 1910, the Killingworth colliery, situated about three miles from West Wallsend, was the seone of a terrifio explosion. Fortunately no lives were lest, but much of the surface plant was completely wrecked. At 5 a.m. the residents wore alarmed by a muffled roar that seemed to shako tho houses to their very foundations. Those who rushed outside immediately were in time to see an immense pillar of ooal dust and debris shoot hundreds of feet above the mouth of tho shaft and then gradually settle over the mine liko a huge black pa.ll. In a few minutes tho entire population of Killingworth was running towards tho pit bead. The brickwork covering tho top of the air shaft, known to miners as the fan drive, was shattered revealing a gaping black hole. Bricks and mortar had been thrown in all directions. The cage lay a twisted head of iron, some yards from the pithead. In the brick well of an adjoining building there wa-j another breach, as though a shell had been fired through it. VV indows wore broken everyv\ bore, and over all lay a thick carpet of coal dust that blackened tho landisoape for two or three hundred yards around the mine. Tho framework supporting the wheel above tho main shaft showed most clearly tho force of tho underground upheaval that luad taken place. The rush- of air from the underground workings roared up the shaft liko the blast from some giant cannon, carrying cages, ooal skips, and steel ropes before it with irresistible force. From the mouth of the shaft the projectile of twisted ropes, steel, and general debris shot upwards until it struck the very top of tho framework, and thore it hung, a huge twisted mass weighing upwards of 30 tons. The outstanding feature of the explosion wa3 that no lives were lost. No hewing had been done at tho mine for two months but during that period the deputies and officials had l>een kept occupied in maintaining the mine in proper working order. ■ Tho catastrophe occurred two hours before their time to arrivo. Above ground there was one employee, H. Watkins, a youthful fireman, who wa« engaged in firing tho boilers, which kept the fan engines going. He needed no telling that he was in danger, as pieces of flying debris crashed on the roof and through the windows of the building. Watkins wisely took to his heels, and sprinted for tho bush that skirts the colliery workings. Watkins had a very narrow escapo, as had he been occupied on ttto other side of the workings, near the fan-house, he must almost certainly have been killed. The Killingworth colliery has been in existence about 21 years, but wa s purchased by the Caledonian Company about 15 y©ar3 ago. There are two shafts, A and B, down 620 ft. When in full swing the mine employs about 500 men. A number of experts (including several department-.' officers) made the 15 mile journef Wo 'vest Wallsend district on Juno 14, 191. L, in order to perform the somewhat dangerous but highly interesting operation of unsealing the colliery. After a laps© of six months, experts regarded it as reasonably safe to unseal the mino, and this was safely

and satisfactorily accomplished. Therl being danger of a gas explosion occurring', while tiie stoppings were being removed from the mouth of the two shafts, the work of unsealing was conducted with the utmost caution. As soon as about half the sealing had been taken off the main shaft, an equal amount was removed from the air shaft, f , main &haft was then completely unsealed The immediate result was that the pas belched forth from the main shaft Than the air descended with such a rush that from the workings below there came a roar resembling that of a mountain tor•ent. In a moment the rushing air seemed to falter and then to go on as it had burst through a mass of debris on the main road between the two shafts. Then gaa was seen to issue from the air shaft, manifesting itself by a trembling vapour about the shaft a mouth, not unlike the quivering haze seen during a heat wave. The emission of gas was followed by a smoky vapour from the main shaft, down which there were sent two steam jets, through inch pipes. In theory this should have caused the air to issue from the main shaft but in this case the theory submissively bowed the knee to practice. However, the steam insead of obeying the theory, went through the mine and up the air shaft, from which it emerged in sheets, followed by clouds of spray, which fell on the bystanders hko rain.