THE MINING DISASTER IN FRANCE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXVIII, Issue 7984, 13 March 1906, Page 5

THE MINING DISASTER IN FRANCE.

Received March 12, 8.24 a.m. PARIS, Maroh 11. The latest report is that five hundred miners have been rescued aud twelve hundred and nineteen asphyxiated aud crashed to death. Recent heavy rains iu tbe north of France produced a number of landslips, and apparently affected tbe mines. The first account stated that only twenty were killed, but late in the afternoon the terrible exteut of the disaster was realised, and it was found that further resoue work was almost impossible, though faint hopes were entertained tbat some of the men hid taken refuge iu tbe lateral galleries. ~ Many of those rescued were frightfully burnt. The chief engineer, who Im3 a band of fitty rescuers, declares that tbe scenes below were awful. A seoond rescue party reached a depth of five hundred feet, where tfce men could bear their mates, who w«re in an inaccessible position some distance lower. FURTHER PARTICULARS. HEART-RENDING SCENES. MARVELLOUS ESCAPES. Received Maroh 12, 1.12 p.m. PAR'S, Marohl 2. All tbe Government heads of State have condoled with the sufferers by the disaster at Courrieres. The latest estimate is upwards of eleven hundred deaths. A profound impression was created in Paris. M. Fallieres (President) sent a representative to express sympathy with tbe population. The outgoing Ministers for the Interior and Works are visiting the scene. The Government are organising public relief for the widows and orphans. A press syndicate iu Paris has initiated private charity. " . j Tbe Prefect of Pasdeoalais, in describing the difficulty in restraining the bewildered wives and children of miners still under the grbund, from approaching the flarres issuing from the pits' mouths, while the were increasing in volume and intensity, and from waylaying the vehicle* cohveiyng corpses, with a view to asoeitaining the bread-winners' fate, states that he summoned reinforcements of troops aad ®eudarmea to maintain order. lbe general excitement of tbe district is arousing a certain degree of apprehension. Received March 12, 11.34 p.m. PARIS, March 12. The explosion projected three cages, with uen, being lowered, while destroying the roofs over the mouths ot the pits. Four men arrived at the surface by ladders, after passing over the bodies of men and horses prostrated by the explosion. The flames next issued. The rescuers, including dootors and engineers, descended by other shafts, and resouedi three hundred and fifty miners working half a mile from the explosion, and brought them to the surface. They had not suffered severely. LATER. ,

Three hundred miners were more or less seriously injured. The resouers worked in relays ti 11 night. They made their way six hundred yards from the bottom of the shaft. Two miners were found alive at midnight. The foreman, after the explosion, told them to lie down, and they thus escaped the first gust of poisonous air. They were prisoners for eight hour. The foreman said he was dying, and urged them to eoape. The three tried to do so. The foreman is missing, and has, doubtless, fallen.