Tank's Poetry
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united states mine rescue association
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Tank's Poetry |
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The first rescue crew made its way into the mine shortly after midnight, and penetrated nearly half a mile before the gas and air became so bad that they were forced to return to the surface. Armed with brattice cloth and timber, the rescue workers returned to the workings after studying the map of the mine, and resumed their efforts to reach the six men, believed to have been killed by the explosion a mile and a quarter underground. Reports of the explosion here received here by railroad officials who said that the blast occurred at about 8:30 o'clock tonight, when only the six missing men were in the mine. A special train, railroad officials said, is being sent to Coalwood where a United States department of mines rescue car is stationed. The special train was ordered to take the rescue car to Roderfield, several miles away, immediately, as such action was deemed necessary. In addition, the West Virginia department of mines rescue car located at Maitland, near Welch, was ordered to the mines, by Robert M. Lambie, chief of the department in a telephone message from Charleston. Mine officials would not say definitely tonight whether there had been an explosion in the workings but declared that bad air was issuing from the mouth of the mine. One man escaped from the workings, they said, but six others were still unaccounted for. Dewey England, the man who escaped, said after reaching the surface of the mine that he was about 1,080 feet behind the others at the time of the explosion, which occurred about a mile from the mouth of the mine. He was not injured, he said, but was unable to reach his companions because of the bad air. The bad air, tonight, held up rescue work pending the arrival of the United States department of mines rescue car and state mine rescue crews with gas masks and other necessary equipment for entering a gas filled mine. All of the men missing, company officials believed tonight, were dead. They were:
Four trained rescue crews were on route to the mine tonight, to begin the search for the men. They will be headed when they enter the mine, by Perce Thornburg, formerly of the United States department of mines, W. B. Lee, Welch and Thomas Stockdale Bramwell, state mine inspectors and L. E. Quennon, Keystone and Harry Butler, both trained rescue workers. Slippery mountain roads hindered rescue crews as they drove to the mine from nearby points. |
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