Alabaster mine 4.9

Miners in Peter Ford's Alabaster mine in the RAF munitions dump experience two explosions and the collapse of the mine tunnel. They suspect the explosions may be caused by Hitler's V-bombers or the other team blasting alabaster. The miners face carbon monoxide gas and attempt to rescue their colleagues, but unfortunately, five miners lose their lives. Meanwhile, in Peter Ford's Alabaster mine, miners were working, talking about football or what their kids were getting up to, general chit-chat. There was a ventilation shaft, shared by part of the RAF munitions dump, which could act as an emergency exit if necessary. The back-breaking work stopped at about 11am for their tea-break. At 11.10, they felt a dramatic judder. What was that? It don't well lifted me off my feet. Yes, just like a lift being downed with a thump. Just then, there was a second explosion, a lot greater than the first. And everyone was thrown about. Even the railway wagon containing four tons of gypsum was lifted. Then the electric lights went out. What in God's name was that? Has a bomb gone off? Let's have a candle here from the emergency lamps. I'll go and check the air shaft. When he came back? There's nothing in the air shaft, just a bed full of soot and soil. Perhaps it's one of Hitler's new-fangled, pilotless V-bombers. I doubt it, Gaffer. They can't get this far. It's probably the other team, blasting the alabaster at their end. Well, we seem to be OK, so back to work, everyone. William Watson, the loco driver, then arrived in his loco to where Fred Bowering and Percy Priestley were, to pick up the last load of stone. What's with the lights? Didn't you feel the tremor, Willie? Well, I was about a mile out from the main entrance on my little loco when I felt my loco waving. But you make too much noise to hear anything. Then the lights went out. Well, we were all chucked around here. Some of us were sent flying into the rock face. Don't know what it was, but I know I'm going to have some rare bruises. Anyway, they carried on working. Unknown to them, the explosion had breached the concrete barrier, which separated the dump from the access tunnel along which they had travelled earlier that morning. A cloud of carbon monoxide gas was working insidiously towards them. At about 11.25, Fred Bowering, Foreman Harris and Percy Priestley went to investigate. The loco won't be able to pass as the gobs have blown and covered the track. Bowering and Harris have carried on. A few of the mines followed. George Smith, Joseph Cooper, Harry Sheppard, Jack Wright and Herbert Morris with William Watson, the loco driver. Jack Gorton and Charlie Gibbs stayed behind, along with James Treadwell and Percy Priestley. Hey, Jack, what's keeping them? They should have been back now. I'm going to see what they're up to. Give us a candle. A few minutes later. There's gas. I smelt it. Smells like burnt sugar. I didn't go further, but I think the others must have got caught up in it. We need a rescue party. In the room up ahead, the fumes were beginning to get to them. Their eyes were stinging and Willie started wheezing, trying to get them in the air. Up ahead, they found a body. Let's turn them over. Oh, it's Fred Bowering. Oh no, his head had just flapped to one side. He just died in my arms. My eyes are stinging and watching, but I can see a light from a lamp a little bit further on. There's someone else not got very far. You others go on. I'll have to rest up a little while. I'll stay with you, Willie, as my legs don't seem to want to carry me, and I feel dizzy. So Joseph Cooper and Jack Wright went to investigate. It's Harris, the foreman, and he's dead. Come on, we need to get out of here. Wright came staggering back. It's got me, it's got me. Jack Wright had collapsed. The others could just about see Cooper struggling on ahead to get to the outside, coughing and spluttering. He was staggering, weaving from side to side. Then they saw him fall. The gas had got to him. Come on, we need to get out of here. Give me a hand to get Jack Wright out. They made their way back towards the entrance. Willie Watson with Shepard and Smith behind him, crawling to keep as low as possible away from the gas, every inch of their bodies aching. It was the only way out, as to all intents and purposes, the air shaft had been blocked. They hadn't got far, about 40 yards, just 40 yards, but every movement was causing excruciating agony, like climbing Mount Everest without oxygen. The tunnel was spinning, and their heads felt as though they were bursting with the pain. They felt woozy and nauseous, coughing and gasping for breath, trying desperately to rid their lungs of the toxic gas. Willie Watson just couldn't go any further, and try as he might, his legs went from under him and he collapsed. But amazingly, he continued to crawl, down on all fours. Such was his desperation, his hold on life, in trying to reach safety. He just couldn't make it though. The end of the tunnel was out of his grasp, just 70 yards past the air shaft, and he eventually lost consciousness. But somehow or other, through his frantic desire to live, his eyes slipped open. George Smith, Harry Shepard and Fred Bowering lay dead near him. He couldn't move, and he was still wavering in and out of consciousness. William Watson was rescued, but the gas had claimed the lives of five of the miners, Harry Shepard, George Smith, Arthur Harris, the mine foreman Fred Bowering and Joseph Cooper.