On Saturday last, one of the most terrible mining accidents
ever recorded took place at the Albion Colliery, Cilfynydd, South Wales. When the explosion took place, there were over 270 men and boys down the pit, but of these only fifteen were brought up alive ; and since then several of the rescued have died from the results of their injuries. Some of the men died from the effects of the explosion, and were literally blown to pieces, but the greater number were choked by the fire-damp. The asphyxiated were in certain places found in heaps of twenty or thirty,—overtaken in their rush to escape. Of the 120 horses in the pit, only two were found alive. Terrible as was the loss of life, it would have been six times as great had the accident taken place a few hours earlier. Then there would have been some fifteen hundred persons at work. As it was, the ordinary miners had knocked off, and the pit was in the possession of the repairing shift. There were, of course, a number of heartrending incidents at the pit's month, but there was no panic, and the miners above- ground behaved admirably. The moment it was known that an explosion had taken place, there were any number of volunteers for the work of rescue. Nothing positive has as yet been ascertained in regard to the cause of the explosion, but there will of course be a full inquiry. There seems good reason to believe that in most instances death came in- stantaneously.
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