AMERICAN MINING DISASTER

Otago Witness, Issue 3111, 29 October 1913, Page 26

AMERICAN MINING DISASTER

260 MEN MISSING. TWO RESCUERS KILLED. NEW YORK, October 23. An explosion wrecked the Stag Canon Fuel Company’s mine in New Mexico, entombing 280 miners. Five men have been rescued, but the fate of the others is doubtful. Debris blocks the mine shaft, but it is believed that possibly the entombed men reached a connecting shaft leading to another mine. Hundreds of rescuers are working. Fourteen dead bodies have been recovered from the Stag Canon Fuel Company’s mine at Dawson (New Mexico), and 25 were rescued alive. The fate of the others is not yet ascertained. They are mostly Italians. The rescuers pianaged to penetrate to the lower levels, but were unable to teach most of the men owing to the gas filling the tunnels. The settlers and ranch-owners from the outlying districts are helping in the rescue work. Two hundred and fifty miners are still missing. October 24. Two of the rescuers were killed by tho collapse of the roof of the mine, and two others barely escaped with their lives. Black damp is barring ingress to the mine. Attempts to recover the bodies are still proceeding, but progress is slow. Several of the rescued declare that ‘ths explosion whereby the mine was wrecked seemed like a volcanic eruption. All hope has been abandoned. Two hundred miners are entombed, and as a fire is raging in the workings, the rescuers are helpless. DAWSON (New Mexico), October 25. Sixty bodies have been recovered, including that of the mine superintendent. All those recovered are frightfully mangled and burned.