Distress Fund For Miners

Broadcast To-Day By Mr. Shinwell

The B.B.C. announced yesterday that Mr. Shinwell, Minister of Defence and M.P. for Easington, County Durham, will broadcast in the Home service at 1.10 p.m. to-day about a distress fund launched by the Easington rural district council for the dependents of the 81 victims of the Easington colliery explosion on Tuesday. Mr. Shinwell gave the first donation to the fund, which reached a total yesterday of £1,548.

Mr. J. Burnip, chairman of the council, said that although other funds may be set up, the Easington council wished this to be regarded as the central fund. It would be known as the Easington Colliery Miners' Disaster Fund.

Mr. G. Henderson, the council's spokesman, said at a meeting yesterday : "We, as representatives of the miners, feel that we at least have the right to expect the nation as a whole to respond to us in our time of distress. While words of sympathy are gratefully received by the bereaved families, we must be practical men and women. In launching this appeal we ask for assistance in providing for the security of the dependents of men who have given their lives in the battle for coal, a product so essential to the future prosperity of every man, woman, and child in this country."

Rescue teams continued their efforts yesterday to find the bodies of the entombed miners, and by evening 24 had been located (including the rescue worker who died) and 57 were unaccounted for. Eighteen bodies have been brought to the surface. The teams were 450 yards from the coal face where it is believed the men were working, and hoped to establish a fresh air base during the night.

The funerals of four of the victims will take place tomorrow at the local cemetery.

The Easington colliery, which produces 835,000 tons of best house coal a year, is idle. Whether it starts again next week will be decided by representatives of the National Coal Board and the National Union of Mineworkers to-morrow.