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.

Cause

The official inquiry found the probable cause to have been firedamp ignited by a spark struck when a falling stone hit a steel girder; the ignition then propagated through coal dust.

Contributing factors

The gassiness of the Old Coal seam, and the presence of coal dust able to carry an ignition beyond the initial flash of firedamp.

What happened

At about a quarter to eleven on the morning of Tuesday 28 June 1960, an explosion ripped through the 'W' district of the Old Coal seam at Six Bells. Of the 48 men working in that district, 45 were killed. The blast itself did not account for all of them: lethal concentrations of carbon monoxide were found in the district afterwards, and the evidence pointed to men losing consciousness rapidly and dying within minutes of the explosion. The colliery was a large one, employing 1,291 men that year and raising 338,000 tonnes, and the district that was destroyed was only part of it — but the toll made this the worst thing to happen in a British coal mine since the war.

Rescue & recovery

Rescue teams reached the district but were dealing with an atmosphere heavy with afterdamp; the work became recovery rather than rescue.

Investigation & inquiry

An official inquiry opened in September 1960. The Inspector of Mines concluded that the explosion was caused by firedamp ignited by a spark from a stone striking a steel girder, and recorded the lethal carbon monoxide concentrations found in the district.

Memorials & commemoration

The Guardian of the Valleys, a 20-metre figure of a miner by Sebastian Boyesen, was unveiled on the former colliery site at Parc Arael Griffin on 28 June 2010, the fiftieth anniversary, by Rowan Williams, then Archbishop of Canterbury. Though raised for the Six Bells dead it is dedicated to mining communities everywhere, and an earlier colliery memorial stands nearby.

Recorded claims

Individual factual claims, each attached to the source(s) that support it below. Where sources disagree, both are kept.

• The official inquiry held in September 1960 concluded that the explosion was caused by firedamp ignited by a spark from a stone falling onto a steel girder. ^1,2
• Forty-five of the 48 men working in the 'W' district of the Old Coal seam were killed; the explosion occurred at about 10:45 a.m. ²
• Lethal concentrations of carbon monoxide were found in the district, indicating that the men lost consciousness rapidly and died within minutes. ^1,2
• The Guardian of the Valleys, a 20-metre miner's figure by Sebastian Boyesen, was unveiled on the colliery site on 28 June 2010 by Archbishop Rowan Williams and is dedicated to all mining communities. ¹

Related terminology

Mining terms this disaster is structurally linked to, with the nature of the relationship.

• Afterdamp (hazard involved)
  Lethal carbon monoxide concentrations were found in the district afterwards, and are what turned the rescue attempt into a recovery.
• Coal (contextual relationship)
  Automatically linked by scripts/link_terms.py: exact-phrase match in the record's own recorded text.
• Firedamp (direct cause)
  The inquiry found firedamp ignited by a spark from a falling stone striking a steel girder; coal dust then carried the explosion through the district.

Photographs & further reading

This page doesn't try to reproduce everything — these are the best original sources found for this disaster.

Sources

1. (secondary) Six Bells Colliery — Wikipedia
2. (secondary) Six Bells Colliery — Welsh Coal Mines

Record created: 24 August 2026 · Last researched: 24 August 2026