A MINING DISASTER

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XLV, Issue 11928, 23 October 1919, Page 5

A MINING DISASTER

United Press Association —By Electric Telegraph—Copyright. London. Oct. 21. It is feared that forty miners lost their lives and that many were injured in the Levant mine near Penzance, owing, to the collapse of the winding engine. Received Oct. 23, 9.30 a.m. London, Oct. 21. The entire workings ot the Levant tin mine extend under the Atlantic. The accident, whereby forty men are believed to have been killed, was owing to the collapse of the winding engine due to the breaking of the iron couplings supporting the vertical beam down the shaft and the antiquated form of the elevator known as a man engine. Solid platforms project from the beam at intervals of 13 feet, and corresponding platforms are placed on the side of the shaft with up and downward movement of the beam, which enables miners to ascend or descend by 12 feet stages. -The collapse occurred when the miners iiad finished their shift and were returning to the surface. Thus many were thrown headlong to the bottom of the shaft, over 1300 feet. A number are still'entombed and the moans ;of the’lnjured are heard on the surface. Niue bodies have besn recovered.