The 1956 Explosion occurred on November 1, 1956, when a mine train hauling a load of fine coal dust up to the surface of the 25-year-old Number 4 colliery to remove it from the pithead encountered a heavy flow of ventilation air being forced down the shaft by surface fans. The flow of air disturbed the dust on the ascending train cars and spread throughout the air of the shafts of No. 4. Before the train reached the surface, several cars broke loose and ran back down the slope of No. 4, derailing along the way and hitting a power line, causing it to arc and ignite the coal dust at the 5,500-foot (1,700 m) level (below surface).
The resulting explosion blew the slope up to the surface where the additional oxygen created a huge blast which levelled the bankhead on the surface - where the coal is hauled out from the mine in an angled shaft into a vertical building (the coal is then dropped into railway cars). Most of the devastation was sustained by the surface buildings, but many miners were trapped in the shaft along with the derailed train cars and fallen support timbers and other items damaged by the explosion.
In a show of heroics, Drägermen (rescue miners; named from a German brand of safety equipment) and barefaced miners (without breathing equipment) entered the 6,100-foot-deep (1,900 m) shaft of No. 4 to aid their co-workers. In total, 88 miners were rescued and 39 were killed. Media coverage of the 1956 explosion was largely overshadowed by the Soviet invasion of Hungary and the Suez Crisis, both occurring at the same time. However, Canadian and local media did offer extensive coverage of the disaster.
Following the rescue effort, No. 4 and the connecting No. 2 collieries were sealed for several months to deprive the fires of oxygen. Upon reopening in January 1957, the bodies of miners who remained below the surface were recovered, and the mine was closed forever.
Read more about this topic: Springhill Mining Disaster
Famous quotes containing the word explosion:
“Frau Stöhr ... began to talk about how fascinating it was to cough.... Sneezing was much the same thing. You kept on wanting to sneeze until you simply couldn’t stand it any longer; you looked as if you were tipsy; you drew a couple of breaths, then out it came, and you forgot everything else in the bliss of the sensation. Sometimes the explosion repeated itself two or three times. That was the sort of pleasure life gave you free of charge.”
—Thomas Mann (1875–1955)