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Courrieres Mine Disaster 1906
http://www.mineaccidents.com.au/mine-accident/162/courrieres-mine-disaster-1906Date Written: 2018-04-01 Publisher: Mineaccidents.com.au Year Published: 2018 Resource Type: Article Cx Number: CX22174 The devastating mine disaster in 1906 that killed over 1,000 workers in Courrieres, France, is remembered. Abstract: -- Excerpt: At about 3 p.m. on the afternoon of March 9, a fire began 270 meters underground in what was known as the Cecil pit. Unable to immediately extinguish it, workers decided to close the pit's outlets and starve the fire of air. The following morning, with 1,795 workers inside the mine's deep tunnels, a huge explosion issued forth from the Cecil pit. Apparently, fissures in the pit's walls had allowed in flammable gases that were then sparked by the still-smoldering fire. It was 7 a.m. when debris rocketed out of the tunnels' openings. Several people on the surface were killed by the blast and the roof a mine office was blown right off the building. Subject Headings |