EXPLOSION IN MINE

Wairarapa Daily Times, 16 February 1937, Page 5

EXPLOSION IN MINE

AUSTRALIAN TRAGEDY

THIRTEEN MEN TRAPPED' Press Association Electric Tfllnm-iiDb—Copyright MELBOURNE, Monday.. ' A terrific explosion occurred at ten o’clock this morning in No. 20 shaft of the State coal mine at Wonthaggi. . Thirteen men were trapped -in the' mine and there is little hope of their rescue.

The force of the explosion drove the cage 150 feet up the shaft to the poppet head.

The explosion was followed by a cloud of dust, flames and smoke, which rose 100 feet in the air and'part of the shaft collapsed. The bulk of the men were attending a stop-work meeting in the town when the news was received. The meeting: disbanded hurriedly and fire, .brigades,, ambulance men 'and miners rushed to' the pithead to aid their comrades. As the news spread women left their homes and the children the schools to 1 form tearful, anxious groups while rescuers sought to find the extent of the' disaster.

The cause is so far not known but it is easily the biggest disaster in the history of the Wonthaggi field.,

HOPE OF RESCUE ABANDONED.

MELBOURNE, Monday.

All hope has been abandoned of rescuing those entombed at Wonthaggi.. Mine officials announce that if the men were not killed by the explosion they must have died shortly afterwards from carbon monoxide poisoning. No bodies have yet been recovered. The mine manager, Mr J. McLeish,. the underground manager, Mr T. Johnson, and one volunteer, wearing gas masks, descended in a cage , and discovered the entrance of the tunnel .where the mpn are supposed to be, completelyblocked with debris. There was no' sign of foul air. 1 ;