The Michael Colliery Disaster, September 9, 1967
A Report by Eric Savage of the Mines Rescue Service, Cowdenbeath Rescue Station
Malcolm's team made it back safely, but there was no sign of the missing men.
At 14.30pm Shaw's rescue team were recovering five pumpsmen at one of the insets in the No2 upcast Shaft when they heard voices shouting from another inset. The rescue team signalled to the trapped miners with four blasts from their hooters, 'yes, we have heard you'. J.C. McEneamy and McArthur were eventually rescued from the No3 downcast shaft. For some reason the telephone which should have been in the inset had not been fitted.
We tried so hard to find James McKay, Andrew Taylor and Hugh Gallacher. We wanted to bring them back to their grieving families so they could rest in peace. But to continue the search was too dangerous for the rescue men; there was too much smoke, the gradients were too severe in the Dysart Dip and the Sea Mine districts, there were Coal Board operational instructions about how long we could be in breathing apparatus. I know I speak for all of us when I say how much we wanted to bring those men back home. The air was so bad, we knew they could not have survived and because of the conditions it was too dangerous for the rescue teams to keep trying to recover them. To give some perspective of just how bad the air was, the rescue teams had to change their breathing apparatus 3,115 times during the 8 week operation. Eight years earlier, the Auchengeich rescue teams had made 220 breathing apparatus changes.
We later discovered that Andrew Taylor had been in a safe position with two other miners who were saved, but he chose to find and warn Hugh Gallacher of the danger they were in. He gave his life for his 'brother' miner. Andrew was given a posthumous award for his bravery. The Carnegie Trust Award recognised his courageous sense of duty to the men under his care. What a brave man, Andrew we salute you.
No one entered the Sea Mine again. Over the next two days an explosion proof fire stopping was put up. I saw it finished on September 11. In the next few weeks four more explosion proof stoppings were erected at Bell's Heading and the Dysart Dooks. The area of the fire was completely sealed off.
We carried on working underground for the next eight weeks. The teams put in hours of hard work on the mine's safety. Many things happened, but incidents come to my mind.
The first was on Tuesday September 26 when work began on the driving of a 1:1 mine from the 300 Fathoms Roadway on a vertical taking, known as the Lum or chimney. This was for a line of communication to the Lochhead Level above the roadway. In my experience I have never known rescue teams do the work our men did on this, drilling, blasting and supporting the roadway. But they did it with all care and diligence, regularly checking the atmosphere for noxious gases particularly as we were about to drive through to the above roadway.
As we broke through, senior personnel from surface control joined us and asked if they could go into the drivage. I said to just wait until we had made everything safe and they sat down beside me at the telephone. Then I smelt a strange smell like coal burning on a spoil heap on the surface of a mine on a frosty morning. I asked for a carbon monoxide reading. The P.S. Tube analyser showed a dangerous quantity. We quickly put on breathing apparatus and moved away from the 300 Fathom Roadway to safety and informed surface control.
Work continued, but on Friday September 29 there was an explosion. No one was seriously injured, but many were thrown about and all the men returned to the mine surface using the No3 Shaft. All work stopped and over the next three days, 17 explosions were recorded. Finally it was safe enough to enter into the underground shaft bottom of the No 3 Shaft . An investigation team could now recce the 300 Fathoms Lateral Roadway to find the best sites to put up explosion proof stoppings.
On Monday October 10, myself Captain I.E. Savage, Cowdenbeath instructor and the Mines Rescue officer of the day, senior Rescue Services staff J. Malcolm, P. Barber and Vice Captain W. Aitken along with senior National Coal Board official Dr H. Willet and Her Majesty's Inspector M. Bottomley went underground via the No3 Shaft and along the LHS of the 300 Fathoms Lateral. We were all wearing full breathing apparatus apart from Dr Willet, who was wearing a short-term b. app. We were heading to the junction with the Dysart Main Coal Headings and No2 Shaft access bridge. Then, to the fire stopping on the other side of this shaft at Willetts Mine Drivage to pick a spot for the final sealing.
It was slow going because of the debris strewn about. I stopped the team and wrote in my notebook that we could not speak while we wearing breathing apparatus. I was worried about carbon monoxide. Carbon monoxide samples we took for analysis at the surface laboratory showed one percentage, immediate death if you weren't wearing breathing apparatus. We left the mine via No 3 shaft after a look at the explosion proof fire stopping. We couldn't take off the breathing apparatus until we were travelling upwards to the surface. It was memorable because it was so good to breathe fresh air that day.
The last stopping was completed on October 10. The Rescue Service officially stood down on November 10, eight weeks after the tragedy. Teams from Cowdenbeath, Coatbridge, Heriot Watt, Edinburgh and Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, had joined in the exacting work to make Michael Colliery safe. There was much praise for the action of all the men of the Michael Colliery during the disaster which cost the lives of nine miners. The Michael Colliery was sealed off and closed in December and never reopened.
There is a poem by William Cowper that I have always carried with me and has always been important to me. I think it is a fitting ode to the mines' rescuers. I include it here because it sums up how I think of all men facing difficult and dangerous jobs.
"He holds no parley with unmanly fears;
Where Duty bids he confidently steers,
Faces a thousand dangers at her call
And, trusting in his God, surmounts them all."
In his report*, the Chief Inspector of Mines and Quarries H. Stephenson paid tribute to the courage of the men at Michael Colliery: "That the evacuation was completed in extremely difficult conditions in such a commendably short time is in itself a tribute to the very high standard of self-discipline of all."
He added: "Under-officials displayed their concern for the safety of the men in their charge, and the men equal concern for the welfare of their workmates...That there was at no time the slightest degree of panic is quite remarkable. Had there been, the death roll in this incident would undoubtedly have been much higher."
Special Awards were made for acts of great bravery and heroic deeds: William Shaw, The Queen's Commendation and Daniel Wilson, The George Medal.
Posthumous Awards were made to: Andrew Taylor, The Edward Medal and the Carnegie Trust; David Hunter, The George Medal and Terence Adamson, The Edward Medal.
The nine men who lost their lives were: Alexander Henderson, Johnstone Smith, James Tait, Andrew Thomson, Philip Thomson, Henry Morrison. Those who were never found were: Hugh Gallacher, James McKay and Andrew Taylor.
I think it is important to highlight that we were to discover from the incident investigation that the most dangerous of the flammable materials used underground was polyurethane foam. After this incident it's use was banned in British coal mines.
Polyurethane Fires recorded 1967-86
• 1967 Michael Colliery, Scotland, 9 lives lost
• 1972 Sunshine Silver Mine, USA, 80 lives lost
• 1986 Kinross Goldmine, S. Africa, 177 lives lost
*The official report reference is CMND 3657 Fire at Michael Colliery, Fife, H.S. Stephenson, Chief Inspector Mines and Quarries. |
