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MINING DISASTER.
IN CZECHO-SLOVAKIA.
Huge Death Roil Feared.
160 TRAPPED IN EXPLOSION.
PRAGUE, Wednesday.— One hundred
and sixty miners were trapped in a pit
at Ossegg, near Dux, following an ex
plosion. The entrances to three mines
connected by underground passages
were destroyed and the miners' es
cape was cut off.
A rescue party recovered six bodies.
They are working under the greatest
difficulty and men are being overcome
by the poisoned air.
The explosion shook houses and five
persons were injured when a building
collapsed. A fire followed the ex
plosion, which destroyed the lift shafts.
A squad of rescuers got into the pit
by means of a ventilation shaft.
Hope of saving the trapped miners
has been practically abandoned. It is
believed that they must have been
asphyxiated. There is some doubt re
garding the number of casualties, but
the lowest figure given is 132.
The disaster is now attributed to an
explosion, either of firedamp or of ex
plosives used in mining.
FOUR THRILLING ESCAPES.
The galleries and shafts are filled
with gas. Only six bodies have been
recovered, but four men made a thrill
ing escape. These toiled up slippery
ladders many hundreds of feet and
gained the surface in a desperate
plight. They were taken to hospital
severely gassed. They were unable to
give an account of their comrades.
The correspondent says that others
may have tried to escape through the
shaft in this way and may have fallen
back exhausted.
Meanwhile a crowd is waiting in a
cold drizzle of rain. Weeping women,
with little children clutching at their
skirts, hope against hope.
The pit is named the Nelson III,
after the British sea hero, and is
situated in the town of Ossegg, near
Dux. It is considered to be one of the
most modern m its equipment for
safety, despite the fact that it was
flooded in 1880, 1887, and 1892, neces
sitating heavy capital expenditure be
fore operations were resumed.
SIXTEEN BODIES RECOVERED.
OVER HUNDRED ENTOMBED.
LONDON, Thursday.— The Prague
correspondent of the British United
Press says that at 1.30 aun. 16 bodies
had been recovered from the Nelson
pit at Ossegg. Fire forced the rescue
squads to withdraw. It is believed that
more than 120 men axe entombed. No
signals have been heard.
The correspondent, in an earlier
message, said: A tragic crowd awaits
vainly at the pithead for rescued men.
The rescuers are struggling against
desperate obstacles and already 10 of
them have been severely injured of
gassed. The difficulties are chiefly due
to the complete destruction of the
ventilation system. An auxiliary sys
tem is now working.
Moreover, the explosion forced the
cage from the pit bottom to the pit
head, where it was wrecked. All the
telephone lines were destroyed, so there
is no possibility of communicating witb
the entombed men if any are alive.
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