MineArchiveDisasters
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.
10 disasters in the 1960s, of 505.
| Disaster | Date | Type | Region | Fatalities |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greenside Mine gas exposure, 1960 Two surface workers at Greenside Mine, William Sinkinson and Alex Santamara, died from gas exposure after entering abandoned stopes without authorisation, searching for mineral specimens, on the night before the mine's second Operation Orpheus test explosion. A rescue attempt by two colleagues left both men briefly overcome by the same gas, and earned them the Queen's Commendation for Brave Conduct; an inquest attached no blame to the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment scientists then working at the mine. |
14-15 January 1960 | Gas / Asphyxiation | Cumbria | 2 |
| Six Bells Colliery explosion, 1960 A firedamp and coal dust explosion tore through the 'W' district of the Old Coal seam at Six Bells Colliery, Abertillery, at about 10:45 on the morning of 28 June 1960. Forty-five of the 48 men working in the district were killed. It remains the worst colliery disaster in Britain since the Second World War. |
28 June 1960 | Explosion | Blaenau Gwent | 45 |
| Cardowan Colliery explosion, 1960 Shortly before 7 p.m. on 25 July 1960, as a party led by the Group Manager and the District Inspector came away from clearing an airway over a roof fall on No. 4 East face at Cardowan, firedamp exploded behind them and flame swept the intake. The district had been sealed for six months after a fire. Three men working on the gas drainage pipes in the return were killed and seven were burned, one of whom died a week later. The Deputy Chief Inspector concluded that half-burned coal had reheated once fresh air reached it. |
25 July 1960 | Explosion | North Lanarkshire | 4 |
| Hapton Valley Colliery explosion, 1962 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. |
22 March 1962 | Explosion | Lancashire | 19 |
| Brynlliw Colliery roof fall, 1963 At the end of the day shift on Friday 10 May 1963 the roof came in over twenty feet at the gate end of the S2 face at Brynlliw Colliery near Gorseinon, after a week of squeezing. Four colliers were killed. The undermanager, buried with them, survived by building a pack wall of stones around himself while rescuers dug in from both sides. The Minister of Power promised inquiries in the Commons the following Monday. |
10 May 1963 | Collapse / Roof Fall | Swansea | 4 |
| Cefn Parc Arlais Colliery explosion, 1964 An explosion of firedamp at Cefn Parc Arlais Colliery, Bryn, killed three men on the morning of 15 June 1964; the deputy's safety lamp was found with its gauze rusted and partly burned away. |
15 June 1964 | Explosion | Neath Port Talbot | 3 |
| Cambrian Colliery explosion, 1965 A firedamp explosion at Cambrian Colliery, caused by an electrical arc igniting gas that had built up after a ventilation structure was left open for over two hours, killed 30 men on 17 May 1965 — the last major mining disaster in South Wales history. |
17 May 1965 | Explosion | Rhondda Cynon Taf | 30 |
| Silverwood Colliery Paddy Mail Disaster A runaway underground materials train collided with a man-riding train carrying miners to their shift at Silverwood Colliery, killing ten men and injuring 29 — one of the worst underground transport accidents in the South Yorkshire coalfield. |
3 February 1966 | Haulage / Transport | South Yorkshire | 10 |
| Aberfan disaster, 1966 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. |
21 October 1966 | Surface / Tip Failure | Rhondda Cynon Taf | 144 |
| Michael Colliery fire, 1967 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. |
9 September 1967 | Fire | Fife | 9 |