COURRIERES DISASTER.

Poverty Bay Herald, 17 April 1906, Page 4

COURRIERES DISASTER.

ONE THOUSAND VICTIMS. (Per s.s. Sierra at Auckland.) SAN FRANCISCO, March 26. A despatch from Paris, March 10, says : A mine catastrophe of inculeulablo honor and magnitude has stricken the great coal centre of Northern France. An explosion of firedamp at 7 o'clock ' this morning carried death and destruction throughout the net work of coal mines centred at Courrieres, and fire followed the explosion, making rescue almost impossible. More than a thousand miners are entombed and probably lost. All France has been profoundly shocked at the disaster, said to bo the greatest in the history of Continental mining. President Fallierios sent his secretary, accompanied by the Ministers of Public Works and Interior, on a special train to the scene of the disaster. The Ministerial crisis was temporarily forgotten, senators and deputies joining in general manifestations of sorrow. The work of attempted rescue was hastily begun by the officials, engineers, and miners from the surrounding mines, who made heroic efforts to penetrate the smoke and foul gases and bring out the imprisoned men. Nearly six hundred were taken out alive, but were terribly burned. A despatch from Paris, March 12, says: An additional disaster following to-day on the terrible calamity at Courrieres has cast a shadow over France. A party of 17 men who went into the mine to rescue bodies lost their Jives in the undertaking. They had been warned, but insisted \ipon descending. A gang of 25 Westphalian miners, who, it is believed, were sent to Courrieres at the express desire of the Emperor William, arrived to-day with special salvage apparatus. Late in the day, after several hours' ventilation of the pit, two Westphalians were authorised to descend. They penetrated a long distance and 'recovered two hundred bodies. -The mining company's latest estimate places the number of victims at 1060. Disorder was threatened to-day owing to the persistency of parents who wanted to see the bodies of the dead, in the hope of identifiying them. The authorities promised to admit groups of twenty-five, but the delay caused ihipatience and rushes. Mounted gendarmes eventually forced back the crowds and order was restored. The Chamber of Deputies to-day unanimously voted 100,000 dollars for the relief of the victims. The Miners' Association voted 40,000 dollars for the same purpose. |