Disasters

Explosions, floods, collapses and other major incidents at UK mines — including significant post-closure incidents in abandoned workings. Each record is researched to the same standard as a mine or terminology entry, not just a casualty count.

38 disasters.

• Aberfan disaster, 1966
  21 October 1966 · Surface / Tip Failure · Rhondda Cynon Taf · 144 fatalities
  A saturated colliery waste tip above the village of Aberfan collapsed as a liquefied slurry on the morning of 21 October 1966, engulfing Pantglas Junior School and nearby houses and killing 144 people, 116 of them children — one of the deadliest disasters in British history and a direct consequence of how the colliery's own waste tips had been sited and managed.
• Alderley Edge West Mine deaths
  May 1929 · Other · Cheshire · 2 fatalities
  Two men, George Etchells and Alfred Hadfield, died after going into the disused West Mine and losing their way in its passages; their bodies were not found for three months.
• Astley Green Colliery explosion, 1939
  7 June 1939 · Explosion · Greater Manchester · 5 fatalities
  A firedamp explosion struck Astley Green Colliery in the early hours of 7 June 1939 while men fought an underground fire over a mile from the pit bottom, killing five men including the pit manager and injuring four more; mines rescue teams were themselves driven back by further explosions.
• Bersham Colliery explosion, 1909
  3 August 1909 · Explosion · Wrexham · 8 fatalities
  A shot fired at the far end of the No.2 West Level ignited a pocket of firedamp at Bersham Colliery on 3 August 1909, killing eight men.
• Big Pit explosion (1908)
  11 December 1908 · Explosion · Torfaen · 3 fatalities
  A localised underground explosion killed three men.
• Big Pit fire (1913)
  7 April 1913 · Fire · Torfaen · 3 fatalities
  Three men died in a fire near the underground stables while trying to rescue the pit ponies stabled there; the horses survived.
• Botallack Mine shaft accident
  18 April 1863 · Winding / Shaft Accident · Cornwall · 9 fatalities
  The chain hauling a man-carriage up the Boscawen Diagonal Shaft broke; the carriage ran back out of control and struck timber at the bottom, killing all nine men and boys aboard.
• Boulby Mine gas blowout, 2016
  17 June 2016 · Other · North Yorkshire · 1 fatality
  Miner John Anderson, 56, was killed at Boulby Mine on 17 June 2016 by a sudden, powerful release of trapped gas — a 'gas blowout' around 15 metres across that displaced an estimated 1,000 tonnes of mineral, described by one expert witness as the biggest such blowout he had ever seen. It followed a separate fire at the mine only two months earlier that had injured seven workers.
• Bryngwiog Mine inrush, 1862
  February 1862 · Flooding / Inundation · Flintshire · 16 fatalities
  Sixteen men drowned when Bryngwiog Mine, on Halkyn Mountain, broke into the flooded old workings of the abandoned Hendre Mine and filled with water within minutes — one of the worst disasters in the district's lead-mining history.
• Burngrange Oil Shale Mine explosion and fire, 1947
  10 January 1947 · Explosion · Midlothian · 15 fatalities
  An open acetylene cap lamp ignited firedamp underground at Burngrange Oil Shale Mine on the evening of 10 January 1947, triggering an explosion and fire that killed 15 of the 53 men underground that shift — the greatest single loss of life in the history of Scotland's shale oil industry.
• Cadeby Main Colliery disaster, 1912
  9 July 1912 · Explosion · South Yorkshire · 91 fatalities
  A firedamp explosion at Cadeby Main Colliery in the early hours of 9 July 1912 killed 35 men outright, with three more later dying of their injuries; a second explosion that same day killed 53 members of the rescue party sent to recover the dead, bringing the total death toll to 91 — one of the worst mining disasters in British history.
• Cavanacaw rockfall and water inrush, 2018
  July 2018 · Collapse / Roof Fall · County Tyrone · 0 fatalities
  Over-charging with explosives brought down 150 tonnes of rock from an underground roadway roof at Cavanacaw Gold Mine, narrowly missing a worker, before the resulting unstable ground let surface water flood into the workings, further endangering the underground workforce.
• Chatterley Whitfield (Whitfield) Colliery explosion
  7 February 1881 · Explosion · Staffordshire
  A smithy fire spread through the ventilation flue and ignited gas underground, and further explosions followed when ventilation was cut to fight the fire — sources give the final death toll as anywhere from 21 to 28.
• Cwmorthin Back Vein collapse
  1884 · Collapse / Roof Fall · Gwynedd
  A catastrophic collapse in the Back Vein roughly halved production and made about half the workings inaccessible, eventually forcing the operating company into liquidation.
• Cwmorthin fatal accident and mine-status test case
  1875 · Other · Gwynedd
  A fatal accident at Cwmorthin — nicknamed 'The Slaughterhouse' after 21 workers died there between 1875 and 1893 — led to a test case that reclassified the site as a mine rather than an exempt quarry under new safety law, and the company was wound up soon after.
• Daw Mill Colliery fire, 2013
  22 February 2013 · Fire · Warwickshire · 0 fatalities
  An underground fire caused by spontaneous combustion broke out at Daw Mill Colliery, Britain's biggest coal producer, described as the worst underground blaze in the UK for thirty years; all 92 workers underground were safely evacuated, but the fire could not be extinguished and led directly to the mine's permanent closure and UK Coal's collapse into administration.
• Dolcoath Mine stope collapse
  20 September 1893 · Collapse / Roof Fall · Cornwall · 8 fatalities
  A timbered stope collapsed at the 412-fathom level, one of the deepest workings in Cornwall, killing eight miners and trapping a ninth for over a day and a half before he was rescued unhurt.
• East Pool Mine shaft collapse
  1921 · Collapse / Roof Fall · Cornwall · 0 fatalities
  A large underground rockfall destroyed both of East Pool's winding shafts and flooded the mine; no deaths were reported, but the mine had to sink an entirely new shaft to survive.
• Great Laxey Mine scaffold collapse
  10 December 1904 · Collapse / Roof Fall · Isle of Man · 4 fatalities
  A working scaffold gave way underground, and the four men on it fell into a water-filled sump about 17 feet deep. All four drowned, including the youngest, 18-year-old Henry Lewis Gelling.
• Greenside Mine fire, 1952
  7 July 1952 · Fire · Cumbria · 4 fatalities
  A fire that broke out over a weekend in the North Shaft workings released carbon monoxide through the mine when the day shift restarted the air compressor, killing four miners — the worst single loss of life in Greenside's history.
• Haig Colliery explosion, 1922
  5 September 1922 · Explosion · Cumbria · 39 fatalities
  A firedamp explosion at Haig Colliery on 5 September 1922 killed 39 men, the worst of three major explosions to strike the mine over its working life.
• Haig Colliery explosion, 1931
  29 January 1931 · Explosion · Cumbria · 27 fatalities
  A firedamp explosion in the Main Band seam, over two miles underground at Haig Colliery, killed 27 miners and injured 13 more on the evening of 29 January 1931.
• Hapton Valley Colliery explosion, 1962
  22 March 1962 · Explosion · Lancashire · 19 fatalities
  A gas explosion at Hapton Valley Colliery just after 9.45am on 22 March 1962 killed 16 men outright, with three more later dying of their injuries, in a mine whose seams were already known to carry unusually high levels of firedamp.
• Kellingley Colliery gas explosion, 2010
  23 November 2010 · Explosion · North Yorkshire
  A methane explosion in Kellingley Colliery's 501's District during the evening shift on 23 November 2010 forced the evacuation of 218 miners. No one was killed or seriously injured, but a Health and Safety Executive investigation found a poorly maintained safety curtain had let an explosive gas mixture build up, and the mine's operator was later prosecuted and fined.
• Keppel Cove dam burst, 1927
  night of 28–29 October 1927 · Flooding / Inundation · Cumbria
  After a night of exceptional rainfall and gale-force winds, the earth dam supplying Greenside Mine's hydro-electric power at Keppel Cove was overtopped and burst, sending a flood down into Glenridding village that wrecked shops, bridges and a hotel — four hotel staff were rescued from a flooding basement.
• Leadhills (Minehill) suffocation, 1817
  1817 · Gas / Asphyxiation · South Lanarkshire · 7 fatalities
  Seven miners were suffocated by fumes from a pumping engine at the Minehill workings at Leadhills in 1817 — a disaster local accounts say discouraged mining there for years afterwards.
• Levant Mine man-engine disaster
  20 October 1919 · Winding / Shaft Accident · Cornwall · 31 fatalities
  During a shift change at Levant Mine, a link between the man-engine's reciprocating rod and its surface beam broke, collapsing the engine down the shaft while 130-150 miners were using it.
• Lewis Merthyr Colliery explosion, 1956
  22 November 1956 · Explosion · Rhondda Cynon Taf · 9 fatalities
  A firedamp explosion at Lewis Merthyr Colliery on 22 November 1956 killed nine men and injured five more, after methane that had accumulated undetected in an unventilated roof-fall cavity was ignited by a falling stone striking a steel roof support.
• Magpie Mine suffocation of three Maypitt miners
  1833 · Gas / Asphyxiation · Derbyshire · 3 fatalities
  Three miners from the neighbouring Maypitt mine suffocated after Magpie miners lit fires underground to smoke them out during a dispute over a shared lead vein — the origin of the mine's 'Widow's Curse' story.
• Michael Colliery fire, 1967
  9 September 1967 · Fire · Fife · 9 fatalities
  A fire broke out underground during the night shift at Michael Colliery on 9 September 1967, filling the workings with thick smoke as some 300 miners fought their way to the surface. Nine men died; the bodies of three were never recovered, and remain in the sealed workings to this day. The fire closed the colliery for good.
• Mill Close Mine firedamp explosion
  3 November 1887 · Explosion · Derbyshire · 5 fatalities
  Five miners died when a shot-firer's naked flame ignited firedamp gas that had already been detected and flagged as dangerous in the days before the blast.
• Nantymwyn dynamite explosion, 1892
  28 March 1892 · Explosion · Carmarthenshire · 2 fatalities
  Two Cornish miners, William Beswetherick and John Lewarne, died after a box of gelatine dynamite they were handling caught fire and partly exploded underground — an incident that prompted a formal report to the Home Secretary by HM Inspector of Explosives.
• Parys Mountain boiler explosion, 1870
  19 October 1870 · Explosion · Anglesey
  A large Cornish boiler at the ore-crushing plant exploded during a lunch break, demolishing the building; accounts from the same local research group differ sharply on the death toll, citing either one confirmed death with 8–10 injured, or seven men killed.
• Point of Ayr Colliery shaft-sinking accident, 1952
  4 July 1952 · Winding / Shaft Accident · Flintshire · 6 fatalities
  Six men employed by a civil engineering contractor were killed on 4 July 1952 while sinking a new shaft at Point of Ayr Colliery.
• Snaefell Mine disaster
  10 May 1897 · Gas / Asphyxiation · Isle of Man · 20 fatalities
  Timber left smouldering underground filled the mine's shafts with carbon monoxide; miners descending on the morning shift were overwhelmed before they realised the danger. Sources give the death toll as 19-23.
• Snailbeach Mine winding-rope accident, 1895
  6 March 1895 · Winding / Shaft Accident · Shropshire · 7 fatalities
  Seven miners were killed at George's Shaft when the winding rope — in continuous service for eight and a half years, twice the normal replacement interval — snapped internally and dropped their cage 252 yards to the bottom of the shaft.
• Wheal Jane acid mine water discharge, 1992
  13 January 1992 · Flooding / Inundation · Cornwall
  An estimated 50,000 m³ of acidic mine water burst from the flooding, abandoned Wheal Jane workings and turned the Carnon River and Fal estuary ochre-yellow — one of the most notorious mine-water pollution incidents in British history, and one still being actively treated more than three decades later.
• Wheal Owles flooding disaster
  10 January 1893 · Flooding / Inundation · Cornwall · 20 fatalities
  Miners broke through into the flooded, long-abandoned workings of Wheal Drea, trapping and drowning twenty men and boys underground.