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Narrative of the First Explosion

Deputy Musgrove had proceeded about 150 yards from the face when he was overtaken by the blast of an explosion. The time was then 9.15 a.m. and, as already stated, he had just left Blackburn a few yards down the face, having previously seen Davies at the hoist in the intake. Blown over and enveloped in a thick cloud of dust he lost his helmet and flame safety lamp. Fortunately he escaped serious injury and promptly made his way to the telephone at the North East 5 junction, where he raised the alarm and from where he spoke to Davies, who had by then reached the telephone at the loading point. Musgrove was joined by Deputy Skillcorn from a nearby district and together they went towards the loading point and met Davies, whom they found severely burned about the head, chest and arms. Having made arrangements for the rendering of first-aid treatment to the latter and his transportation to the surface, the two deputies, without further ado courageously went into the return with the intention of rescuing Blackburn. They found the doors in stenton 20 had been partly displaced and, after effecting temporary repairs to them, continued inbye. They came across Musgrove's helmet and lamp and then a little further on, owing to the badly fouled atmosphere, they were compelled to retire.

Meanwhile, what of Davies ? He had been sitting at the hoist in the intake when the explosion occurred and the first intimation he had of anything unusual was when he felt a puff of air which struck him on the back, as if a heavy fall, which he thought he heard, had occurred inbye and had caused a temporary reversal of the air current. His immediate reaction was to find out what had happened but before he could make a move to do this, he was struck from the direction of the face by a sudden blast which, accompanied by a loud bang and a roar, knocked him to the floor and enveloped his head and shoulders in flames. He rose to his feet, tore off his burning waistcoat and, having lost helmet and caplamp headpiece, groped his way outbye, using the tub track as a guide. After feeling his way past a tub and a displaced cross-member of the inbye stone dust barrier, he then had a clear passage and eventually reached the telephone at the loading point from which he spoke to Musgrove.

Rescue and Recovery Work (1)

As it happened, the Agent, the Manager and the Undermanager were only a few hundred yards away on a neighbouring face when they felt the blast of the explosion and immediately proceeded to investigate. Leaving the Undermanager to summon the Rescue Brigade, the Agent and the Manager led a party into the Plough Face intake in an attempt to reach the face, having heard that Blackburn was missing. They were unsuccessful, however, being forced to withdraw because of the fouled atmosphere.

They therefore decided to make an attempt by the return and, proceeding slowly, reached the face where they found Blackburn, who appeared to be dead, lying close to the coal cutting machine. Again the fouled atmosphere caused a withdrawal but, on reaching fresh air at stenton 20, it was found that the Agent was missing from the party. The Undermanager, coming on the scene, with the help of three others rescued the Agent who apparently had lost consciousness just as the decision to withdraw was made. It was necessary to await the arrival of a Rescue Brigade before Blackburn's body could be recovered.

Two permanent corps teams from Houghton-le-Spring Rescue Station arrived at 11.21 a.m. at the man-riding inbye terminus where the men affected in the first rescue attempts were met and given carbogen. One team, using self-contained breathing apparatus, went at once along the return and recovered Blackburn's body. There was no doubt that Blackburn had been killed almost instantaneously.

The team then made an exploratory tour of the face, entering by the intake. They found the atmosphere throughout to be stagnant, dust laden and fouled by carbon monoxide, and with visibility at the face no more than 4 or 5 feet. It is not surprising, therefore, that labouring as they were under such extremely difficult physical conditions, the members of the team were unable to make detailed observations. In any case they were primarily concerned in establishing that no other persons were involved and that the ventilation could be restored. No lives being at stake and no fire having been seen by them, further exploration was postponed until the ventilation had been restored and the affected area cleared of noxious gases, a process which it was estimated would not take very long.

Narrative of the Second Explosion

Unfortunately a second explosion occurred while steps were being taken to restore the ventilation, thereby delaying further exploration of the affected area and probably destroying much valuable evidence. The circumstances were that a second rescue team which had been sent into the intake found the atmosphere still fouled. Accordingly, 200 yards inbye the loading point a brattice screen was erected in the North East 5 Engine Plane, just inbye the loading point, so as to divert the whole of the available air into the Plough Face intake. Just afterwards, at 2.30 p.m., the second explosion occurred, fortunately, as stated, without casualties. Clearly the effect of restoring the ventilating current had been to bring a body of inflammable gas into contact with an igniting means and in this respect the possibility of fire being present in the explosion area could not be ruled out. It was only possible to hazard a guess as to what might be the effect of making further changes in the ventilation, especially as the analyses of samples of air collected in the return strongly supported the view that material was burning inbye. The decision was taken, therefore, to seal off the district, and preparations towards this were put in hand and continued throughout the night.

Rescue and Recovery Work (2)

At 8.0 a.m. the next day the sampling showed that combustion had ceased, and accordingly a rescue team was sent in to explore the area. They reported having travelled the intake, face and return, without seeing any active fire. In view of this the ventilation was restored, and in due course, by restricting the air passing into other ventilating districts, a quantity of some 8,000 cubic feet of air per minute was being circulated. An inspection was then carried out by the management, workmen's examiners and H.M. Inspectors.