Turkey's energy minister, Taner Yildiz, announced the end of the search effort while attending a funeral for some of the workers killed in the disaster.

He said 301 miners had been killed, while another 485 escaped or were rescued after the mine was rocked by an explosion last Tuesday (lo... Read More

07/05/2014

UPDATE Noon:

DEPARTMENT of Natural Resources and Mines spokesperson said mine inspectors were working with Anglo American to investigate the cause of the fatality.

"Mine management reported that an electrician working undergrou... Read More

On Tuesday the 15th of April 2014 an incident occurred at Austar Coal Mine resulting in the deaths of Philip Grant, 35, of Metford and Jamie Mitchell, 49, of Aberdare.

Read more: Read More

The 53-year-old man died from injuries received in a workplace accident at the Mount Lyell mine in Queenstown just before 8:00am (AEDT).

The loader operator, a contractor with Barminco, was not responding when found by the mine's rescue team.

The mine operator, Copper Mines of Tas... Read More

Maintenance workers Craig Gleeson, 45, and Alistair Lucas, 25, both fathers, were working almost 1km underground in the mine's No. 1 shaft when they fell from a platform.

Inspector Matthew Richman, of Tasmania Police, said it was believed the men were working on ... Read More

At 11.50 pm on Saturday, 30 November 2013, 38-year-old Ingrid Forshaw, a trainee plant operator employed by TESA Mining (NSW) Pty Ltd, was fatally injured while working at the Ravensworth open cut mine, near Singleton NSW (Ravensworth mine). Ms Forshaw suffered fatal injuries when th... Read More

This research report examines 25 recent mine explosion disasters in the United States and in foreign countries. The official investigation reports of these disasters were consulted to understand and identify the main factors causing the explosions and steps that could have been taken... Read More

On the morning of May 14, 2013, 38 employees and contract workers for PT Freeport Indonesia (PT-FI) were  in an underground training center in a tunnel lo... Read More

An articulated mobile crane was lifting a vertical drive sump pump. The pump fell from the crane hook when one of two synthetic-webbing slings used in the lift came off the hook, and the pump struck Jordan Taurima standing nearby.

Michael Cassidy was tragically killed when he was hit by a front-end loader at Mount Moss Mine, west of Townsville.

Sean Scovell was only an hour into his first shift after having time off when he became trapped in a conveyor belt at 7.10pm and as a result was killed.

On the morning of 15 September 2011, work was about to start as usual at Gleision Mine, a small coal mine in the Swansea Valley. At around 5.45 am, the mine... Read More

At 1.55pm on June 3, 2011 a 4.8 metre slab of coal fell from the rib (wall) onto Mr Jones. The slab broke in two when it hit the ground and Mr Jones was trapped under a 2.3 metre piece weighing about 1.3 tonnes. The crew freed Mr Jones within eight minutes of the incident. Mr Jones was taken to p... Read More

On 5th January, 2011, at approximately 7:36pm Eastern Daylight Saving Time (i.e. 6:30pm Australian Eastern Standard Time) there was a report of an explosion large enough to knock over a maintenance worker on longwall number 1 at Blakefield South Mine.  A flame was observed in ... Read More

Wayne McDonald was a truck driver at Foxleigh Open Cut Coal Mine near Middlemount. Read More

The Pike River Mine disaster was a coal mining accident that began on 19 November 2010 in the Pike River Mine, 46 kilometres (29 mi) northeast of Greymouth, in the West Coast Region of New Zealand's South Island. An explosion occurred in the mine at approximately 3... Read More

WITNESSES to a fatality at Westfarmers Curragh Mine said they saw a four-wheel drive skid on a stretch of unsealed haul road which may have just been dampened by a water truck.

The crash claimed the life of James Brunswick, a 55-year-old contractor from Woombye o... Read More

At 10.36 am on 8 July 2010 a four wheel drive utility turned into the path of an empty QR National coal train at Occupational Crossing 5805, near Goonyella Riverside Mine on the Riverside – North Goonyella section of the Goonyella Coal System, near Moranbah, Queensland. As a re... Read More

The first blast occurred at 20:55 Moscow Summer Time (16:55 UTC) with the second at 01:00 MST (21:00 UTC). The explosions were confirmed by investigators to... Read More

On the 2nd of May 2010 a routine gas sample from a sealed area detected 416 ppm CO and 43 ppm C2H4 (ethylene) and 0.09% H2.

The next day on the 3rd of May 2010 0.27% H2 (2746 ppm) 138 ppm C4H4 and 1262 ppm CO was detected. 7pm that night 2000ppm CO had been detected.

Rescue t... Read More

On April 5, 2010, at approximately 3:02 p.m., a massive coal dust explosion occurred at the Upper Big Branch Mine-South (UBB), killing 29 miners and injuring two. UBB is operated by Performance Coal Company (PCC), a former subsidiary of Massey Energy Company (Massey) (together PCC/Ma... Read More

Mr Tuppurainen was operating a loader during the course of backfilling when the loader went over the edge and into the stope. It fell a considerable distance before coming to rest partly buried in the backfill material. Mr Tuppurainen died almost immediately due to traumatic a... Read More

A longwall crew was replacing a broken drive shaft on the ranging arm of a longwall shearer. The drive shaft had a spline on each end and required alignment of the splines to be completely installed.

It appears that the drive motor rotated under power, catching a... Read More

John Barker was fatally injured at an open cut coal mine when he drove his utility into the rear of a large, empty, low loader travelling slowly in the same direction. The low loader weighs some 200 tonnes and is used to transport heavy equipment such as dozers and excavators. The ... Read More

An investigation into how Mr Green came to be pinned revaled that the had moved the truck forward through the open gate and exited to close the gate. On closing the gate, Mr Green was standing at the back of the truck when it moved backward on slightly sloping ground and pinned him to the gate.Read More

On 24 July 2008 at about 5.30pm, Mr Darren Burgess, was operating the rib bolter (bolting rig) of a Mobile Bolter. He apparently stood a drill steel on the perforated decking that formed the work area floor after drilling a rib hole, resting the top of the drill steel on the butterfly plates. The... Read More

On 17 January 2008 Mr Auld was working underground as a member of a three person service crew at Cannington Mine preparing to start work on an extension of air services. He was standing at the rear of a Toyota utility with his back to an approach loader operated by another cre... Read More

Jason Blee, aged 33 years, died on Monday 9 April 2007 (Easter Monday) while employed in an underground coal mine. He died from a pelvic crush injury when he was trapped between a shuttle car and the rib. Jason was the miner driver in a place change bord and pillar section of the mine. ... Read More

The Ulyanovskaya Mine disaster was caused by a methane explosion that occurred on March 19, 2007 in the Ulyanovskaya longwall coal mine in the Kemerovo Oblast. 110 people... Read More

At 9.23pm on Anzac Day 2006 the Beaconsfield Gold Mine (“BGM”) at Beaconsfield experienced a mining induced local  seismic event (magnitude 2.3). It caused multiple falls of ground within the mine, most significantly on the 925m level. Larry Paul Knight was working on t... Read More

A single vehicle accident involving a 1991 model 6 cylinder diesel engine powered Mack CHR series tanker truck, Queensland registration number 795 IKD, occurred at the lower end of the main access Ramp 1 at the intersection of Ramp 4 on the surface of the Broadmeadow Underground Mine on Monday 27... Read More

The Sago Mine disaster was a coal mine explosion on January 2, 2006, in the Sago Mine in Sago, in Upshur County, West Virginia, USA, near the county seat of Buckhannon. The blast and col... Read More

In April 2004 Trevor Deakin was working at a Queensland mine and was driving from the mine, Kestrel, near Emerald to Mackay along the Beef Road north of Middlemount after completing a 12 hour night shift. Trevor was a contractor at the mine.  It was Easter Friday, Trever died in a single veh... Read More

On September 19, 2005, Roger Bruce Browne, 41 was killed after he fell more than 50m at the Dawson Mine. He was found the following day at 10.30am after his partner contacted the mine repeatedly to say he had never come home. 

Mr Browne was employed as Senior Mining Engineer in ... Read More

On the 7^th August, 2005, Mr Davis was working a day shift when he noticed that one of the tyres on the vehicle he was driving was "doughy". He went to the Korn workshop at the Foxleigh Mine site to attend to the tyre. Whilst a tyre fitter was employed at the workshop on a part time bas... Read More

Barry Cusack's death was due to the injuries he received when the Air Trac, of which he was operator, went over the workbench 345 sliding down to a rill 11 metres below and then coming to rest 20 metres below the 345 bench.  

Mr Pugh died as a result of injuries sustained when struck by a falling rock.

Paul James Strong was pronounced deceased at 1 am on 29^th May 2004 at John Hunter Hospital.  He died of multiple injuries sustained when he was crushed by the tyre of a Komatsu 730E earthmover truck, in a work related accident.  The tyre was 3.45 metres in diameter, almost on... Read More

Mr Marshall died as a result of crush injuries sustained when he was struck by and pinned under a heavy wheel as a result of an industrial accident.

On the 22nd of December 2003 as Longwall 4 at Southland retreated past 17 c/t in the tailgate a high CO alarm was recorded in the Longwall Tailgate. At 22.00 hrs the Upcast Shaft CO monitor alarmed at 9 ppm CO. By 2am on the 23rd of December the Longwall Return CO Concentration was 61 ppm and the... Read More

The Coroner Found: 

I find that on that day Mr Belfield had been operating a vehicle loading crane attached to a Mitsubishi flat tray truck and in the course of that operation-of that crane he was crushed between the passenger side controls and the jib of that vehicle loading crane .... Read More

On 30 August 2000, a mining crew consisting of five men was extracting coal from the 12 East panel at the Cook Colliery using a remote controlled continuous miner. Shortly after 9.00am a fall of coal from the left-hand side lodged against the side of the continuous miner while sump mining in sub-... Read More

On 14 July 2000, Mr Peter James COMERFORD received fatal injuries when he was struck by a bearing housing assembly which fell during the lift of a crusher frame by an overhead travelling crane in the SINTER PLANT of the MOUNT ISA MINES LEAD SMELTER.

On 26 May 2000, Mr Michael Morris received fatal injuries while working on night shift at Oaky No 1 Mine. The incident occurred at 28 cut-through Main Gate 19 when Mr Morris was trapped by a roof fall at 3.40 am.

On 15 March 2000, Mr Christopher John Lee was fatally injured while working under a 785 rear dump truck tray when the tray fell causing severe crush injuries.

The BWE experienced a major structural failure resulting in the counterweight collapsing followed by the bucket wheel. The operator's cabin then fell to the ground. Mr Thomas, who was in the operator's cabin, was injured as a result of the cabin crashing to the ground due to the failure of the ca... Read More

On the 24th of November 1999, NorthParkes E26 Mine was in a maintenance shutdown, there were approximately 65 persons working undergound at about 2:50 pm. A catastrophic event occurred over a period of about 4 minutes, where the ore body above the cave back collapsed into the void, creating an ai... Read More

Mr Geoffrey Michael BARLING received serious injuries at the BHP Cannington Mine when he fell approximately 13 metres to the bottom of the Fowler Shaft.  Read More

Sang Chul Kim sustained fatal injuries at about 9.45 am on Tuesday, 27 April 1999 as a result ofhis falling from the top of the No 1003 sulphuric acid storage tank at the WMC Fertilizer Project, Phosphate Hill.

On night shift of Wednesday, 20 January 1999 at approximately 05:00 hours, trainee miner Brant North had both legs caught by the armoured face conveyor chain at the tailgate drive sprocket of longwall 14 at Oaky Creek No 1 mine.

Mr North and Mr Adam Clarke, a contract miner, wer... Read More

On the day shift of Monday, 23 November 1998, Scott Robert Johnston and four other miners performed normal drill and blast cycles of the M62 shaft approximately 532 metres below 20 level.  After crib, the crew went to the bottom deck of the stage and commenced to bar down.

At ab... Read More

Two ignitions of firedamp occurred separated by six hours, behind the part completed tailgate stopping of a salvaged longwall retreat district. No persons w... Read More

The fifth goaf fall in the panel, which occurred at 10am on Thursday 22 January 1998, resulted in a windblast which knocked over and injured 6 of 19 crew who were present engaged on regular maintenance. It also destroyed several ventilation appliances. The injuries to the personnel... Read More

At about 10.45 am on Sunday, 14 December 1997, Mr Phillip Anthony Fowler was found in an unconscious state by Mr Scott Mead and Mr Brian Christie at the crib room of the 574 metre level (mLv) at the BHP Cannington mine.

An initial assessment of the situation by Christie and Mead... Read More

At approximately 12.25 am on Thursday 19 June 1997 Mr David Ronald Stratton received fatal injuries when he was crushed between a Komatsu PC400LC-6 excavator/loader serial number 30074 and the offside of a tri-axle trailer unit, W.A. registration number N 2127.

John Charles Barber sustained fatal injuries at approximately 17:50 on 4 June 1997, when the Elphinstone R2800 load haul dump (LHD), unit No 1884, which he was operating, entered the open Q621 Stope in the Deep Copper mine section of the Isa Mine. At the time of the accident he was clea... Read More

Shortly after 12:30 pm on Sunday 4 May 1997 Mr Dale Gadsby received fatal injuries when the light vehicle, a Toyota Cruiser trayback utility, which he was driving collided with and was subsequently crushed by an articulated Euclid 90,000 litre water truck and trailer. The passenger in t... Read More

At approximately 9.15 pm on Tuesday 25th March 1997 Mr Trevor Domrow, section deputy, received serious injuries from the toppling of a large lump of coal (3.5 metres long, 0.5 metres thick and 1.0 metres high) from the south east unsupported rib adjacent to survey station 149 in the No.... Read More

At aproximately 10-00 am on Tuesday 10 December 1996, Mr Rick John Turnbull received fatal injuries when he was crushed by a rock which fell or was dislodged from the back of the Corbould slot drive in the Arimco Mining Pty. Ltd., Mount Elliott mine.

Brett Grant Duffie was fatally injured at approximately 6:00 pm on Saturday 23 November 1996 when the Toyota 025FD25, 2.5 tonne industrial truck (forklift), unit number S140FL02 which he was operating, overturned on the rear access roadway between the warehouse and the maintenance works... Read More

On 14 November 1996 employees of The Newcastle Wallsend Coal Company Pty Limited, awere engaged in work on the night shift at the company's mine, the Gretley Colliery. Four men of a team of eight were in the process of developing a roadway (known as C heading) in an area of the mine cal... Read More

Shortly after 3-30 pm on the 5th November 1996 Mr Gary John Wilson was fatally injured when he was crushed between the right hand rib side of 0 heading, 9 to 10 cut-through, A500 panel, Laleham No. 1 Colliery and the Joy 12CM12 continuous miner, unit no. 47.

At the time of the a... Read More

On Sunday 27 October 1996 Mr Barry Arnold Rooks was fatally injured when a rock fall of approximately 2 to 3 tonnes occurred pinning him to the platform of a Getman scissor lift tractor no. 2771.

Valiant attempts were made by Donnelly and Dryden to lift the rock off Mr. Rooks bu... Read More

On Sunday 6 October 1996 Mr Wayne Anthony Corry Jackson, backfill mucker, sustained fatal injuries after the EIMCO 913 LHD mucking unit number 2510 he was operating on the 16D8 bench on 17E sub-level fell fifteen (15) metres into the stope to 17D sub-level of the lead mine, area 2 ... Read More

On the afternoon shift of 19 September 1996, Alan Morgan lost his life on the surface of the Oaky Creek No 1 underground mine.

Mr. Morgan's body was discovered in about 1.6 metres of water and at the bottom of the mine waste water lagoon, in close proximity to or partly under th... Read More

Glenn Burrows was walking or standing on the flotation level western walkway in the Mount Isa Mines copper concentrator building when an unsecured grating gave way beneath him. He fell 8.25 metres to the concrete floor below, possibly striking a floor joist and pipe in the process.

At approximately 9:50 a.m on June 28, 1995, a methane explosion occurred in the 300 Panel of the Endeavour Colliery. There were thirty miners underground at the time of the explosion, including eight surviving victims in the face area of the 300 Panel who suffered varying degrees o... Read More

104 miners died in one of South Africa's largest gold mines when the cables controlling an underground train snapped, sending the cars hurtling down a 7,000-foot vertical shaft onto an elevator.

The victims were in the two-story elevator, which was crushed by the falling train as it rose ... Read More

On afternoon shift 14 March 1995 Anthony Wild (Team Leader) Tony Trevor and Illona Casey proceeded to 5928 crosscut in the 059 workshop area at approximately 9-15pm. Wild reversed loco number 1783 into 5928 crosscut from the 5902 crosscut and coupled up to a rake of five trucks whi... Read More

The single vehicle accident which caused the death of Gavin John Milner at the Tichum Creek Quarry on 17 October 1994 occurred when the deceased was driving a loaded Wabco 35C dump truck on a haul road to the primary crusher rock bin.

The right hand side of the truck struck the ... Read More

Mr Slater lost his life and Mr McGuiness was exposed to serious risk due to the exposure to fly rock from unconfined blasting and the deliberate detonation of an unknown quantity of deteriorated explosive.

Fly rock distribution was in excess of an estimated 300 metres and the ac... Read More

At about 23:35 hours on Sunday 7 August 1994, an explosion occurred in the Moura No 2 underground coal mine.

There were twenty-one persons working underground at the time. Ten men from the northern area of the mine escaped within thirty minutes of the explosion but eleven from the souther... Read More

On 2nd . August 1994, Dyno Wesfarmers Limited (DWL), Papua New Guinea (PNG), explosive manufacturing facility at the Porgera Gold Mine was totally destroyed by two explosions, with the loss of eleven lives. Extensive damage was done to nearby mine facilities and numerous mine employe... Read More

Tom Bolton and Peter Kerr received fatal injuries and Shane Swift and Morris Bissell received serious injuries when a water truck WT3 rolled forward in pit 19B at the Moura open cut mine and collided with the side of a service vehicle (ST4). The service truck (ST4) was parked parallel to&nbs... Read More

In late 1992 two D-11N caterpillar dozers were delivered to the Gregory mine some sixty kilometres north-east of Emerald by Hastings Deering. One dozer was delivered in parts, assembled on site in the workshop, commissioned and handed over. The second dozer was delivered in parts a... Read More

On the morning of the accident three employees of Farnsway Faminco Proprietary Limited a contracting firm engaged by
Carpentaria Gold Proprietary Limited to carry out underground development work at the Latters Tick Hill gold mine were mucking out the face of eight seventy five sil... Read More

26 miners were killed in an underground explosion in the Westray mine at 5:20 in the morning of 9 May 1992.

The Westray mine is located at Plymouth, near Stellarton, in Pictou County, Nova Scotia. Westray was the only operating underground coal mine in Pictou County at the time o... Read More

At approximately 3.10am on July 24th 1991, three mineworkers were asphyxiated by gas released during an outburst at the working face in W12 Panel. 

Read More

At some time between 3rd and 13th June 1991, Peter Carl Daniel, who was working alone in a shallow opencut at the Smacker's Knob opal mine some 33 km south of Kynuna, sustained fatal injuries when buried under a fall of ground. Injuries included a depressed fracture of the skull, b... Read More

At approximately 10.00 am on Wednesday, 22 May 1991, the deceased, Michael John Gorey, a boilermaker employed by the contracting firm of Barkly Welders, was gas-cutting an opening in the floor chequer plate beneath the head snubber drum of the new conveyor extension at the top of t... Read More

The deceased was engaged in shrink stope mining on the morning of 14 May 1991. Two holes had been drilled in the back of the ore body with a sig machine and air leg. The deceased had commenced to drill the third hole when a large slab fell down, causing fatal injuries.

From the ... Read More

John Phillip BAIRA received serious burn injuries when a pot of molten lead fell from a crane at the lead smelter, Isa Mine, on 21 April 1991.

The deceased received fatal injuries when the muck in a draw point which had hung up collapsed and buried him while he was placing an explosive charge. In failing to observe industry standard practices, and ignoring his own extensive experience, the deceased exposed himself to grave&nbs... Read More

On the morning of the accident, the sinter plant and blast furnace were shut down and a clean out of accumulated dust accretion in the gas cooler tower was commenced. Three men employed by the contracting firm of Gardner Perrott Pty Ltd and using specialised water jet tank cleaning ... Read More

Gary Michael Martin received fatal injuries when a UGL loader which he was driving entered the void of R405 stope.

At the commencement of the morning shift on 19 December 1990, Gordon Dudley Wood together with 2 other men were attempting to clear a blockage in ROM 1 at Goonyella Riverside mine. To effect clearance Wood was utilising a high pressure water hose on the top of the R.O.M. 1 hopper w... Read More

At approximately 10.00 am on 19 November 1990, miner Rodney Elwyn Maddox was operating a Lee Norse 38H continuous miner, extracting pillars in the Glenco section of the mine. A number of shuttle cars had been filled when the section deputy indicated to Maddox that he should switch ... Read More

An empty Wabco fifty haul pack dump truck driven by Mr Wolfenden came into collision with a loaded dump truck of the same kind, driven in the oppsosite direction. The accident occurred while the deceased was negotiating a bend in haul road number seventy-five, at which time he lost... Read More

At some time between 11:35am and midday on 4 October 1990, miner Martin Rowlands and nipper Ricky Gudge were replacing a faulty hydraulic hose on the right-hand boom of an Atlas Copco Boomer H128 two-boom jumbo (more specifically identified as MIM Unit No 3521) which was then drill... Read More

Mr Dean White was working with a maintenance crew at the Newlands Mine at Glenden on 19 September 1990 when he received serious burns as a result of a gas explosion. He died from his injuries in Brisbane on 1 October 1990.

Thomas Anderson received fatal injuries while performing duties as a shunter on the Isa lease near the Gardenia Gate crossing.

Shane was operating a Cat 966C front end loader cleaning out a drain along the highwall near the transport portal of Southern Colliery, German Creek Mine, Capricorn Coal, near Middlemount.

Read More

Mr Nicholson sustained fatal injuries when struck by a wave of fill and water which flowed from stope K711 on sub level 19C at approximately 2.20pm

The deceased, David Joseph Firth, received fatal injuries when, as a mine deputy on the afternoon shift on the 18th day of August 1988, whilst engaged in a bottom coal removal process at the intersection of Level 47 and 17 heading in 32C Panel, a section of roof fell causing a fall of r... Read More

Cavity Filling a Longwall Roof Fall with PUR.

No one was injured or killed during the fire fighting operations but years later a number of the men involved in the fire fighting developed rare cancers and died. Investigations have not directly identified a link between the event and the de... Read More

On 16 September 1986, 177 mineworkers were killed at Kinross Mine in one of South Africa's worst mine disasters since 1946. An acetylene tank sparked flames that swept through the mining tunnel igniting plastic covering on the wiring. The flames also set fire to polyurethane foam that is used to ... Read More

At approximately 11:05 a.m. on 16th July, 1986 there was an explosion in Moura No. 4 Underground Mine in Central Queensland. The 12 miners who were extracting pillars in the Main Dips Section were killed. Their bodies were recovered on 23rd July, 1986 after an extensive recovery operation.<... Read More

After having been seen at about 9.30 p.m. on the evening of 27 June 1985, it was noticed by Central Control room Operator Griffiths that the deceased Paul Alexander CRAWFORD did not respond to his call . This absence was reported to Shift Foreman POLKINGHORNE. A search was instituted... Read More

Three miners were incinerated in the cage in the mine shaft whilst removing old concrete delivery pipes. It is believed that hot metal, slag or sparks ignited flammable material below. The fire sent flames up the walls of the shaft fed by hydraulic oil or diesel fuel which had spilt from galvanis... Read More

At 11pm on Tuesday 24th July 1979 an explosion of methane gas in K Panel of Appin Colliery resulted in the deaths of 14 workers. This disaster was associated with a changeover of ventilation that was intended to create a situation whereby a central intake, in a three heading development panel, wo... Read More

On 8 January 1979 at approximately 5 am in the morning when the power was switched on underground after being off from Saturday afternoon unbeknownst to the colliery. On the last working day of 1978, a truck going through Edgeworth ran into the substation at that location. In the afternoon of 6 J... Read More

In December, 1978, a major outburst occurred and killed two men. The ejected coal completely covered the miner and half covered the shuttle car.

The resultant cavity was more than 20 m long. Around 500 tonnes of coal was involved.  After this outburst, mechanized mining was stop... Read More

At approximately 9:02 am on Monday, 7th of February 1977 a small weak methane explosion occurred near a development face at Duncan Colliery, near Cornwall, Tasmania. The methane accummulated near the development face over a long weekend due to inadequate ventilation and booster fans which had bee... Read More

At approximately 5.10p.m. on September 20, 1975, an explosion occurred in the underground workings of the Kianga No. 1 mine in Central Queensland. Thirteen men who were underground at the time attempting to seal off a heating in the 4 North Section were killed.

As a result of the fataliti... Read More

Fatally injured by an explosion caused by an oxy acetylene flame igniting methane close to the floor of the roadway of the East Drift.

The Box Flat Mine disaster occurred on the 31 July 1972 when 17 miners lost their lives after an underground explosion following a major mine fire which had developed from Spontaneous Combustion. 14 men who were underground in #7 Mine with an i... Read More

At approximately 10:27 am on Monday the 6th June, 1972, a violent explosion ripped through the entire extent of the underground workings of No. 2 Colliery. Tremendous columns of smoke and gases poured out of all the shafts, mounting hundreds of feet into the atmosphere. The Kamandama... Read More

Read More

The following summary is taken from an Interview with Col King (a Queensland Coal Mining icon).

I was offered a job at Blackwater. I went for an interview. It was a development mine at Sirius Creek. Kaiser Steel from America had it. At Box Flat there were 6 or 8 of us that ha... Read More

The Aberfan disaster was a catastrophic collapse of a colliery spoil tip in the Welsh village of Aberfan, near Merthyr Tydfil, on 21 October 1966, killing 116 children and 28 adults. It was caused by a build-up of water in the accumulated rock and shale, which suddenly ... Read More

Four miners suffocated when a pocket of gas ignited in a panel, causing an underground fire, several hundred yards from the main shaft, on November 9th, 1965.Read More

At 3.12 p.m. on 9 November 1963, a thunderous explosion took place. At the bottom of the first mining level, ten of the four-wheeled carts filled with coal were being hauled to the surface. One of the lower three carts derailed and, because of the tension thereby created, the chain of the third c... Read More

On February 7, a methane explosion occurred after the opening of a  methane-containing cavern in the Alsbach field. This triggered an even bigger coal dust explosion with devastating effects. 299 workers of the 433 present were killed, making this the greatest mining catastrophe in the histo... Read More

On 28 June 1960, at approximately 10:45, an explosion took place in the West District of the Old Coal Seam, caused by an ignition of methane. Coal-dust in the air ignited and the explosion spread almost throughout the district. Killing 45 out of the 48 men who worked in that district of the mine,... Read More

In the worst mine disaster in South Africa, a large section of the Clydesdale Colliery, at the Coalbrook mine near Sasolburg, caved in and trapped 435 mineworkers 180m underground. There were no survivors. No machine capable of drilling holes large enough through which to rescue people was availa... Read More

A coal dust explosion followed by fires occurred in the No. 4 Mine of the Cumberland Railway and Coal Company, Springhill, Cumberland County, Nova Scotia, at 5:07 p.m., November 1, 1956, and caused the death directly and indirect... Read More

Victor Francis Bray, an electrician at Newcom Colliery, Lidsdale, near Lithgow, is believed to have slipped near the rail track and fallen under and run over by a low loader being hauled by an electric locomotive conveying a load from the tunnel of the mine. An hour after being admitted to the Li... Read More

In the evening of October 13, 1954, an outburst occurred in the deepest part of the Collinsville State Mine about one and a half kilometres from the entrance of the No. 1 tunnel. Seven men were killed when 900 tonnes of coal and stone was dislodged and blown 30 metres up ... Read More

The following information has been obtained from the Healy Hero web site.

The fire st... Read More