Lofthouse Colliery disaster
Encyclopedia
The Lofthouse Colliery disaster was a mining accident
which took place in Lofthouse, West Yorkshire
, England
in 1973. A new coalface was excavated too close to an abandoned, flooded 19th century mineshaft. The sudden inrush of water trapped seven mine workers 750 feet (228.6 metres) below ground. A six-day rescue operation was carried out but succeeded in recovering only one body. The location of the flooded shaft was known to National Coal Board
(NCB) surveyors but they had not believed it to be as deep as the modem workings. Existing British Geological Survey
records indicated that the flooded shaft did descend to the same depth but these records had not been checked by the NCB. The incident led to the Mines (Precautions Against Inrushes) Regulations 1978 ("PAIR"), requiring "examination of records held by the Natural Environment Research Council
which might be relevant to proposed workings [and] diligent enquiry into other sources of information which may be available, eg from geological memoirs, archives, libraries and persons with knowledge of the area and its history."
Mining accident
A mining accident is an accident that occurs during the process of mining minerals.Thousands of miners die from mining accidents each year, especially in the processes of coal mining and hard rock mining...
which took place in Lofthouse, West Yorkshire
Lofthouse, West Yorkshire
Lofthouse is a village in West Yorkshire, England between the cities of Wakefield and Leeds. It is in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough but with a Wakefield postal address . It is mentioned as Locthuse also Loftose in the 1086 Domesday Book....
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in 1973. A new coalface was excavated too close to an abandoned, flooded 19th century mineshaft. The sudden inrush of water trapped seven mine workers 750 feet (228.6 metres) below ground. A six-day rescue operation was carried out but succeeded in recovering only one body. The location of the flooded shaft was known to National Coal Board
National Coal Board
The National Coal Board was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the mines on "vesting day", 1 January 1947...
(NCB) surveyors but they had not believed it to be as deep as the modem workings. Existing British Geological Survey
British Geological Survey
The British Geological Survey is a partly publicly funded body which aims to advance geoscientific knowledge of the United Kingdom landmass and its continental shelf by means of systematic surveying, monitoring and research. The BGS headquarters are in Keyworth, Nottinghamshire, but other centres...
records indicated that the flooded shaft did descend to the same depth but these records had not been checked by the NCB. The incident led to the Mines (Precautions Against Inrushes) Regulations 1978 ("PAIR"), requiring "examination of records held by the Natural Environment Research Council
Natural Environment Research Council
The Natural Environment Research Council is a British research council that supports research, training and knowledge transfer activities in the environmental sciences.-History:...
which might be relevant to proposed workings [and] diligent enquiry into other sources of information which may be available, eg from geological memoirs, archives, libraries and persons with knowledge of the area and its history."