UK Mining Disasters 1932

LLWYNYPIA. Porth, Glamorganshire. 25th. January, 1932. The colliery was the property of the Welsh Associated Collieries Limited and was situated near Porth, Glamorganshire. The explosion occurred in the Pentre Seam where the coal was worked by longwall faces, some conveyor faces and others as stalls. The seam was 2 feet 10 inches thick and the area affected by the explosion was bounded by roads named, ‘Cooper’, ‘Randell’ and ‘George Rees’. Several weeks before the explosion the George Rees’ Road had reached a downthrow how fault of three feet and it became necessary, to recover the seam over the fault, to drive a heading through the fault. This was done by the time of the accident. A heading 15 feet wide was being driven to the rise and parallel to the fault to form a new conveyor face. This heading was known as George Rees’ conveyor face. The heading was ventilated by a current of air which reached it by way of Squints’ airway and the current was prevented from passing out along George Rees’ road by a brattice erected across the road about 50 feet back from the fault. It was then conducted to the face of the heading by a brattice which divided the heading into two. On reaching the face the air current turned round the end of the brattice and continued down a spout hole cut through the fault which was described as ‘an airway of somewhat restricted dimensions ’. At the time of the explosion it could only be passed through on elbows and toes. The means by which the air was split was primitive. A brick was placed to prevent the door on Old Camm’s road between Cooper’s and Joe Davies’ from closing. The coal got from driving the heading known as George Rees’ conveyor face was put onto a compressed air driven conveyor which dumped it on the floor at the face of George Rees’ road where it was filled by hand into trams. This method had been used for six weeks and it produced a lot of coal dust. On Friday morning 22nd. January at about 12.30 p.m., a joint in the compressed air main laid in Cooper’s failed, with the result that the conveyor in George Rees’ conveyor face could not be worked until it had been repaired and the coal had to be turned back from the face by hand. The coal so moved would fill about six trams, remained stacked in George Rees’ conveyor face until Sunday, 24th. January when two men, Edward Henry Charles Bulgin and Edward Davies went in at 6 p.m. to fill it away. One filled on to the conveyor and the other into the trams when it was dumped at the delivery end. According to the evidence of these two men, the afternoon shift fireman, Richard Cheney, who was killed in the explosion, told them not to go beyond the loose coal and that he would send some brattice which Edward Bulgin agreed to erect. The fireman made his inspection between 9.30 and 10.30 on the Sunday night prior to the night shift coming down to work at 11 and his report showed that he had found firedamp in George Rees’ conveyor face but in what particular part it did not show but form the instructions given to Bulgin and Davies it would appear to have been at the face and was still present at the time he allowed them to go to work. The evidence of the night shift fireman, Gordon Hughes which descended the pit at 10.45 p.m. on Sunday told that he met Cheney who told him that he had found gas in George Rees’ place at the beginning of the shift and that everything was all right now. This was just before 11 p.m. The day shift fireman, Reginald Shipp Camm descended the pit at 6.45 a.m. and conferred with the outgoing fireman, Hughes who told him everything was ‘ p retty fair, only that there was a blockage in George Rees’ airway.’ Camm had the blockage removed by a collier, Charles Bulgin which stated that it amounted to ‘ a few stones which I shoved on one side.’ Camm said that during this shift everything was normal and that he had never found gas in George Rees’ conveyor face but gas had been found in the rippings of George Rees’ road on the 7ht, 8th., and 10th January. He had erected a fly sheet to turn the air coming along Squints airway into the rippings and this had diluted the gas. the fly sheet had remained there after that as a precautionary measure. On the completion of the shift Camm saw the oncoming fireman, Richard Cheney but had nothing to report to him. On this shift of 25th.January, two men, Thomas Cryer and Herbert Evans were to work in George Rees’ conveyor face, Cryer to get the coal at the face and fill it onto the conveyor and Evans at the delivery end filling the coal dumped on the ground by the conveyor into the trams standing on George Rees’ road. John Lewis, haulage rider was standing near the bottom of Camm’s passbye where he saw Richard Cheney and Morgan Bowen, a coal cutting machineman, cutting by the brattice. Morgan Bowen’s’ place of work was in Prior’s or Brown’s but he had come to work late that shift and Lewis thought that Cheney had enlisted him to do some work on the brattice. According to Lewis, the two men left Camm’s passbye carrying the brattice in the direction of Cooper’s and about 15 to 20 minutes later, Lewis said he felt a rush of air and dust. The bodies of Cheney, Bowen and Cryer were found near the face of George Rees’ conveyor face with the brattice cloth they had taken in. The body of Henry Evans was found on George Rees’ road about 10 yards from the rippings. these four men were killed at once by the explosion. Seven others lost their lives, two of the rescue workers who died from the effects of afterdamp. Those who lost their lives in the explosion were - Richard Cheney, fireman, Morgan Bowen, coal cutting machineman, Charles Cryer, collier, Henry Evans, collier, Stanley Dando, David Hughes, Clifford Sparrow, William Thomas, David Rogers. Killed by the afterdamp - J. Alsop. The rescuers who died - John Evans, overman and John Jones, fireman. The inquiry into the disaster was held at the Police Court, Porth on Monday 21st. March and concluded the following day. All interested parties were represented and opinions differed as to the precise point of origin of the explosion but it was generally agreed that it was either in George Rees’ conveyor face or George Rees’ road. As to the cause no one could give a definite opinion. Thomas Sheppard, overman had no idea how the ignition was caused and Mr. E. Sims Rees, Senior Inspector thought that it could have originated from a ‘pop’ shot but there had been no shotfiring in the seam so this explanation could be dismissed. Mr. Rees dismissed smoking as a cause of ignition and Mr. William Henry Mainwaring, Miners’ Agent for the Rhondda District of the South Wales Miners’ Association Federation said that all he could think of was that in erection the brattice cloths, a hammer had slipped and caused a spark which led to the ignition. The way in which the coal was loaded had led to a lot of coal dust being deposited in the workings and roads and there was evidence from the Gwlwym Griffiths, Instructor of the Porth Rescue Station who, with others had been the first to enter the area said that there smoke contained a lot of sulphur which indicated that it was coal dust explosion. With reference to the rescue operations the Inspector commented that, ‘ they were conducted with greater valour than discretion’ The men from the Porth Rescue Station were equipped with breathing apparatus but officials of the mine including the General Manager, Mr. J. Whitticombe, the Agent Mr. R. Lloyd and the Manager Mr. J. Whitticombe had no apparatus and were engaged in Prior’s and Brown’s. They had a canary with them and appeared to have more regard for its life than their own with the result that one of the party, John Evans, overman was overcome by the afterdamp and died. The other death of John Jones, fireman from another seam should not, in the opinion of the Inspector, have occurred. It appeared that he went down the pit himself and went straight inbye on the Main Road where afterwards he was found dead with a canary in his hand. Sir Henry Walker commented - “The Rescue Brigade itself is not free from criticism for a base was established elsewhere than the intake air. it may be said in answer that officials and men, unequipped with rescue apparatus had already been exploring in the return air apparently without ill effects, but such an answer does not meet the point. men trained for the purpose of rescue work are expected to avoid such unnecessary risk. Until Mr. T.L. Mort arrived on the scene at 9.30, the exploration work was on unorthodox lines. Mr. Mort starting at the intake, followed the intake air and by replacing with boards and brattice the two doors on Camm’s which, with their side walls, had been blown outbye, restored the ventilation to its normal course. had this been done at the outset and no one allowed dot go beyond the doors across the main level other than men equipped with breathing apparatus, the loss of life would probably would not have been so great.” There was one strange incident which was recorded in the Report.

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