23 DECEMBER 1865, Page 3

A terrible explosion occurred near Merthyr Tydvil on Wednes- day

morning in the Gethin coal pit, which belongs to Mr. W. Crawahay. The " choke damp," as the miners call it, exploded, it is believed from contact with an injured Davy lamp, and killed 30 men out of 40 present in the " heading," severely wounded the remaining 10, and injured more or less seriously 22 other persons. Three of the men were so burnt as to be unrecognizable, and one of them was taken to a house believed to be his, and his wife, half mad with the shock, was taken with the pains of labour, and carried to bed. A few minutes after in walked her husband bale and well, the bearers having mistaken the identity of the dead man, a grotesquely frightful addition to the natural horror of the scene.