Disasters - Names		Disasters - Names

Date:	3rd May 1954
Colliery:	Kilton (Ironstone)
Cause:	Gas explosion
Lives Lost:	1

An explosion of inflammable gas occurred on 3rd May in the South-East Cross Cuts District of Kilton mine (a safety lamp mine), when one person was killed and two were slightly injured. The South-East Cross Cuts District, a separate ventilating district (see Figure 2), was situated about three-quarters of a mile to the south of the two shafts and comprised three adjoining deputies' inspection districts, of which two were developing in virgin ground and the third was extracting pillars. The ironstone seam was about 8 feet in thickness, worked by driving places 12 feet wide and leaving "curtains" 2 feet in thickness between lifts in pillar extraction. Each place was thus virtually driven as a stone drift, in which the mineral was won by means of explosives fired in rounds by delay action detonators and then loaded into tubs by compressed air driven mechanical loaders, served from the rope haulage system by diesel locomotives.

The ventilation of the District was governed by a booster fan, situated in the return airway and passing 17,500 cubic feet of air per minute.

At 5 a.m. on the day of the explosion, which was a Monday, two deputies and two workmen went into the District, which had been idle over the week-end. The former were to make pre-shift inspections of their respective districts and they noted, in passing, that the booster fan was running. They were followed 40 minutes later by a third deputy, who was to assist one of them, and by five other workmen, each of whom made for his respective working place despite the fact that no pre-shift inspection had been completed; indeed, as far as the third District, the Inbye Development District, was concerned, it had not even been started, as the deputy assigned to it had been delayed by a very heavy thunderstorm.

At 6.20 a.m. an explosion occurred, the blast of which traversed the District and caused severe damage along all the roads back to the meeting station.

One man, whose body was subsequently recovered from No. 5 level of the Inbye Development District, was killed, two were slightly injured but made their own way out, and by some miraculous means the remaining seven escaped injury altogether.

In the investigation which followed it was determined that none of the men who escaped had been within the area which was traversed by flame, and they could not therefore have actuated the explosion. All the possible means of ignition were considered and all were eventually eliminated except that of contraband, there having been found close to the body, which was well within the area traversed by the flame, several spent matches, any one of which if struck in an explosive mixture of firedamp and air could have caused an explosion.

The presence in the District of a large area of goaf and the known characteristic of the Cleveland ironstone, especially in that area of the field, to give off inflammable gas by "blowers" during the winning of the stone, clearly indicated the source of the gas concerned in the explosion. A low barometric pressure over the week-end in conjunction with serious defects in the system of ventilation provided an explanation for the accumulation which, according to the area traversed by flame, must have extended throughout most of the Inbye Development District at the time of the explosion.

It is disquieting to report, in view of all the information and experience at the disposal of the management, that the investigation disclosed irregular systems and practices at the mine, the avoidance of any one of which might have prevented this explosion.

It was a matter of some concern to learn of the existence of such irregularities in view of the recent explosion history of the Cleveland ironstone mines and the special effort which I had reason to believe had been made to render such occurrences a more remote possibility.

During the rescue and recovery work immediately after this explosion the inbye fan, the driving belt of which had been dislodged by the blast of the explosion, was re-started and the ventilation was thus partially restored. By some mischance, possibly not unconnected with the explosion, there was an open stenton between the intake and the return airways on the outbye side of the fan, and through this some of the explosion products were forced into the intake airway. Caught up by the intake air current, these noxious fumes were carried inbye to the meeting station, where they seriously affected upwards of 30 men who were a waiting the return of a rescue team, who had been engaged in recovering the body and were wearing apparatus. On return to the meeting station with the body, the team found all these men in various stages of collapse and they were faced with a very delicate situation in that a normal recovery operation had been transformed momentarily into one with disastrous possibilities. Unaware of the circumstances which had caused the situation to develop, and therefore unable to assess what was involved in getting all the men back into fresh air, the rescue team telephoned the surface for help and set about the task of checking the effect of the poisonous fumes and of partially reviving the worst cases by emptying spare bottles of liquid air on the floor. In the meantime every other available rescue man and workman went underground and inbye to help to deal with the casualties, as did two local doctors who had responded to an urgent appeal for medical assistance.

The rescue team in the affected area loaded three insensible cases into a tub, which was then run outbye under the control of one or two others who had partially recovered. As the remainder were revived by means of the liquid air or the use of reviving apparatus, they were coaxed and urged to make their way towards fresh air. Slowly but surely the procession of semi-conscious men, some crawling, others walking and staggering, made its way outbye over a 400 yards length of roadway in a contaminated atmosphere, to fresh air and into the hands of the doctors, who gave treatment, after which each case was either carried or assisted to the surface. Every man recovered, some after treatment in hospital, and I cannot praise too highly the manner in which so delicate and formidable a task was resolved, without loss of life, by the rescue team and by the doctors, who had gone underground unhesitatingly despite the fact that at the time of their descent the situation was not fully understood. Having had the case brought to your attention, you were pleased to express in writing to the Chief Officer of the Fire and Rescue Service of the National Coal Board Northern Division and to each doctor your appreciation of the successful results of their efforts.

Source:

1954 Mines Inspectors Report

	Johnson, Raymond, aged 40, Loaderman, gas explosion, address: Gladstone Street, Loftus
	All names found

04 May 1954

Explosion in Ironstone Mine (The Times)

 

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