Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1892-03-17
GREAT LOSS OF LIFE FEARED.
Three Hundred Miners Imprisoned in a
Bolgium Coal Mine by an Explosion.

l
Bolgium Coal Mine by an Explosion.
DRussELs. March 11.-An accident oc-
| CURED to-day in colliery near Charlcroi
which it is feared will result in great loss
of life. Two hundred miners were en-
; ployed in the coal pit when there was q
terrific explosion of fire damp.
| The pit mouth was rendered unavail-
able and up to the present the fate Of the
imprisoned wcfkmcn IS unknown. Efforts
arc being madl To rescue any of the men
who have survived the explosion.
| "A later dispatch states that the number
Of men at work in the pit was 300 instead
of 200. Tremendous excitement prevails
III the vicinity Of the pit OF the 800 men
at work only three have thus far arrived
at the mouth of the pit in safety.
A large number OF the miners are mar
ried and their families are at the pit mouth
frantic with grief. The cage and the ven
tilator were Shattered. The destruction of
the ventilator adds an element of great
danger to the situation, and il is thought
that when an entrance is made to the col
liery tho loss of life will be found to be
appalling.
PcRrH EscAPED---sIxTEEN BADLY INJURED.
Later particulars regarding the explosion
show that 1t occurred in gallery 400 feet
below the surface. Here were working
go men. OF this number 40 escaped by
means of the second shaft and 16 others
were TeSCueu III n IerrlDle anu IL is DelleNeu
fatally injured condition.
The excitement among the crowd of
women and children continues to grow in
intensity, and the grief of these who have
husbands or fathers in the mine is pitiful.
People from the surrounding country are
pouring into the town. Many of them
have friends or relatives among the
miners and they are adding to the great
excitement prevailing.
u is feared that at least 200 men in the
mines have been killed.
BRUSSELS, March 1.-THE excitement
around the mouth of the pit of the colliery
at Charleroi continues unabated. 1t is with
the greatest difficulty that the gendarms
are enabled to keep the crowd back far
enough to allow work of rescue to be pro-
ceeded with.
The usual heart-rending scenes that fol-
low mining disasters are being enacted by
the wives and children of the unfortunates
that persisted. The fire that followed the
explosion is still burning and the gallery is
blocked with fallen rock, rendering the
approach nearer than 100 yards to the
scene of disaster impossible. Besides the
rock, bodies of 40 horses block the way
These will have to be cut up and removed
before the rescuers can reach the place
where the bodies are.
The bodies of many that have been res
cued are so mutilated as to be unrecoa !
nizable. Many Of the dead are women
and young girls, who work in the minesl
So far 80 bodies have been recovered. (.
Mining experts, acquainted with the
mine, say that every person who was
working in the lower gallery must be dead,
and few are expected TO be rescued alive
from the upper gallery, which is filled
with deadly gases.
BEATEN OFF BY THE FIRE.
The fire in the mine grew fiercer and ,af-
ter o'clock this morninp the bpat baoanno
so intense that it was impossible for the
rescuing parties to remain in the pit They
have been compelled for the present to
abandon all efforts to reach the galleries.