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united states mine rescue association
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Successful Rescue A gas and dust explosion occurred in this mine. There were 102 men working on the shaft, but some left the mine and only 14 were in the affected section when the explosion occurred. Eight men were killed by violence, five were overcome by afterdamp and one man, Marina Coccia, who was overcome, was rescued and resuscitated after an undisclosed period. The explosion was probably caused by an open-type mining machine, another of the long list of electrical ignitions in closed light mines. Coal Mine Explosion Fatal to Thirteen Sheboygan Press, Wisconsin August 16, 1928 The survivor, Marina Coccia, of Coalport, owes his life more to luck than anything else, he having refused to follow a fellow miner whose body later was brought from the workings badly mangled and burned. Coccia, one of 150 men in the mine at the time of the blast, was with the fourteen in the section where the blast occurred. The other 136, in another section of the mine, escaped, their working place not having been visited by the force of the explosion. "I was with W. H. Mays about 3:15 o'clock," Coccia said. "We heard a dull thud and thought the dynamo had let loose. We were thrown to the ground and smelled gas and felt a terrific heat. Mays, his face ghastly, turned to me and said, "We'll die now. No one but God can save us."The bodies of the thirteen victims were brought to the surface shortly after midnight. Identifications were made in each instance. Those killed were:
Most of the bodies brought out were mangled and burned and with but two exceptions all were without clothing, denoting rescue workers said, the explosion was of terrific force. The two bodies not mangled were evidently suffocation victims, physicians stated. Had the explosion occurred 15 minutes later that it did, the mine would have been cleared of humans, officials of the company stated. |
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