19 MINERS KILLED

Southland Times, Issue 21835, 12 October 1932, Page 7

19 MINERS KILLED

LANCASHIRE COLLIERY LIFT CRASHES DOWN SHAFT ONE SURVIVOR (United Press Assn.—Telegraph Copyright.) London. October 10. Crashing to the bottom of a shaft 700 ft deep at the Plank Lane Colliery, near Leigh (Lancashire), 19 miners, who were descending in the lift, were killed. The occupants of the power house above heard a dull crash from the depths as the cage struck the water. One occupant survived. A colliery signalman said a doubledecker cage went past him like a breeze, and dashed into the sump. “I heard the cry of a miner, Kilshaw, who was struggling in the water,” he said. “I threw a rope and pulled him to a raft and lowered a ladder by means of which he reached the landing.”

Kilshaw, who is six feet tall and weighs 15 stone, says: “Everything was all right until 20 yards from the bottom. Then the cage suddenly stopped. A moment later the cage hurtled to the bottom. Being the last man in I had my back to the gate and, using all my strength, I managed to lift the gate just enough to scramble out. I shot to the surface as my senses were leaving me.” Doctors and ambulance men worked for hours extricating the bodies, and in two cases where there was a flicker of life oxygen was administered for hours.

Forty children have been rendered fatherless as a result of the tragedy.