The first rescuers to ••merge from 1
the mine declared that bodies of tin*
victims were strewn throughout the 1
main slope of the mine, which is a ;
mile deep. Death occurred mostly
from suffocation, they said, dense
black clouds of smoke apparently j
having rolled over the workers after
the blast, which is believed to have
centered in Kntry 15, near the cen
ter of the mine.
O O O
ItcNCuer* lllockcd.
The rescue workers, blocked here
in their efforts to reach the entombed
men. worked until 1 o'clock this aft- '
ernoon before they cleared the pas- j
cage way of the debris resulting
from a cave-in. At the Seventeenth
entry, it was explained that the "trip”
car track had been torn up. apparent- j
ly by the force of the blast and the
rescue crews were unable to proceed
further on the car.
Making their way afoot through
the roigh debris lined passageway i
they eventually progressed to all the
sections of the workings reached by
the force of the blast, carrying, as
sisting or directing the survivors out
of the passageway as they went. The
little band which had been entombed
gathered about the “trip” car at the
end of the track of entry 17 and was
brought up to the surface at 3 o'clock.
