The week has been marked, especially in the north and
west, by thunderstorms of unusual violence, and it is probable that one of them caused a terrible colliery accident. Early on Thursday morning, 119 men and boys were in the Risco, colliery, near Newport, and were repairing the roadways in the workings under the Mynyddisllwyn mountain, while a terrible thunder- storm was raging above ground. It is supposed that the lightning entered the mine and exploded the gas, for a tre- mendous explosion occurred, which literally burnt oue man to a cinder and killed all the remainder. None ou the spot were saved, and none appear to have struggled. The accident does not appear to have been one of the preventible kind ; but the mine has always been considered " dangerous," and the exten- sions under the mountain in which the men were working were strongly condemned by the inspector, who advised the open- ing of another shaft. This will now probably be done, after a slaughter greater than that of an Afghan battle.
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