SCOTTISH COLLIERY DISASTER

Otago Witness, Issue 3100, 13 August 1913, Page 24

SCOTTISH COLLIERY DISASTER

HEROIC FOREMAN. LONDON, August 4. The three men who were saved at the Cadder colliery fire owed their lives to Reilly, the foreman, descending directly the alarm was given. He afterwards seized a lamp and ran into the workings to warn the rest, but he was never seen again. Twenty-one bodies have been recovered. One man, who is still alive, is not likely to survive. Heart-rending scenes were witnessed at the pit head. Poisonous fumes rendered the rescue work difficult, the rescuers being made unconscious. All the pit ponies were suffocated. The fusing of some electric cables is the probable cause of the disaster. August 5. Fifteen bodies were found together. The victims were not burned, end bad died from afterdamp. MacDonald, the last man reached, was found alive after (jI9 hours, and a doctor administered oxygen while the man was being carried out. He is in v a critical condition. One woman lost three sons and anjther two sons and a son-in-law. Thirteen of the victims were married August 6. The fire in the Cadder colliery is under control.