Miners Unknowingly Enter a Death Trap

on May 10th 1897 35 miners started down the 1T ladder to the depths of the snay Fel mine many of these men would never see the light of day again this is their horrifying story and as always viewer discretion is [Music] advised at 6 6:00 on the morning of May 10th 1897 35 miners working the snel mine assembled outside ready to begin the early shift the spring air was crisp and there wasn't a cloud in the sky indicating a beautiful day ahead it was a shame the miners would miss it but the village of laxi on the aisle of man had an economy built by mining the miners had families to support for those unfamiliar the Isle of men is a small island in the Irish sea between Ireland and Great Britain but despite its size the mines there were loaded with valuable Metals mining in an area known as Snell Mountain began in 1856 and by 1897 the mine had more than 10 levels branching off its 1026 ft or 313 M main shaft traditionally the mining industry used a unit of measure called a fathom a fathom is 6 ft so the Snell mine was 171 fathoms deep it was one of the smaller mines there employing just 50 men but it produced more than enough ore to impact the worldwide metal industry after a briefing by mine Captain John kolie the men entered the mine and began to as sending the ladder to their sign levels snel mine had just one way in and one way out and that was the main shaft it was essentially a large rectangle divided into three compartments one for the ladder one for buckets called Kibbles and the last for the compressed air pipes that ran the boring drills each level also had a platform and each platform had a hole in the floor smaller than the opening of a front loing wash machine for the ladder and the men to pass through interestingly unlike other Minds snel was warmer inside than outside and since warmer air is less dense and easier to move than cold air the mine had a natural ventilation system so the current of fresh outside air actually circulated down the main shaft to each of the levels most of these tunnels were fortified with thick wooden supports to prevent collapse and the tunnel width ranged from 8 ft or 2 and 1/2 M all the way down to just 40 in or 102 cm as was typical John remained up at the top with the winch operator to better supervise the days orial as the last of the men went down the ladder he was just settling in when a handful of the miners then reappeared and lunged out of the shaft gasping for breath and completely exhausted one of the men then told Jon that everything was fine until they got to the 60 fathom level where they all start to feel intensely drowsy and weak as John listened a few more of the men crawled their way out of the main shaft and these men were much more lethargic than the others and some passed up the moment they reached safety knowing something was terribly wrong JN yelled an order to several of the less affected men to send help from the laxy mine a few miles away as soon as the order was clear Jon started down the ladder and immediately encountered some of the others around level 60 who were having an even harder time climbing out no one at that level was even conscious any longer each was breathing but JN knew they wouldn't be for much longer if he didn't get them out soon by the time he got down there some of the first miners out of the shaft recovered enough to meet back up with them almost immediately all of them start to feel these same symptoms that initially drove them out but they weren't going to leave anyone behind they had to try to save as many as they could outside the mine within 2 hours of sending for help 40 volunteers from the laxi mine arrived in immediate started assisting the others when they finally had the Manpower on site several volunteers helped attach a large tube-shaped vessel to the end of a winch that was simply called The Box this vessel was just slim enough to fit down the shaft and just big enough to fit one man inside it so by 5:00 the Box had lifted three of the incapacitated miners out but this was just three of so many that were still down somewhere in the lower sections even worse the constant climbing up and down mixed with whatever was affecting them in the deeper reaches of the shaft took a massive toll in the rescue effort at 65 years old Jon put himself in serious danger as he took 10 round trips just to get as many of his men to safety as he could as all of this was happening news was rapidly spreading through the towns in the surrounding area one doctor from Loxy came up the mountain as soon as he heard the news meanwhile in the capital city of Douglas the high BFF also heard about the crisis and got in contact with GJ Williams Britain's assistant mine inspector Williams just happened to be on the island performing a series of routine inspections and upon hearing the news immediately rushed to the Snell mine at 600 p.m. he arrived and gathered John the doctor and the laxi mine Captain to regroup the rescue effort then leading a party of miners on site who' been able to rest for an hour Williams descended to 74 fathoms from there he and one of the volunteers from the elimine continued down the ladder planning to observe what they could at the 100 faom level before they even reached that point however there were three bodies blocking the way to the platform each of them dead and each of them still draped over the ladder they had clearly passed away trying to save themselves with this blockage the rescue party had no choice but to return to the 74 level and Report the conditions further down but when they started to ascend the ladder they finally noticed how weak and tired they were each of the rungs felt like they were a mile apart and climbing was incredibly difficult finally when they even barely reached level 74 they found that everyone else was gone Williams and his partner they continued to climb until they reached the 60 level where they found Jon and the others resting this group also had to ascend because while waiting at 74 they had all started to feel un usually sleepy and weak by level 60 though no one could climb any further they were all on the verge of unconsciousness and if they couldn't get to the top they were as good as dead thankfully Williams had one last trick up his sleeve when the high balea contacted him about the crisis and filled him in on what was happening at Snell Williams immediately knew what was likely causing the men to grow extremely tired and weak before they died suddenly on his way to the mine he stopped at a store ran inside and bought a small bag of some sort of white powdery substance after paying for it William stuffed into his Puck and resumed his race to the mine at the 60 level with the rescue party fading fast Williams gathered up some loose newspapers crumpled them up and placed them together on the platform floor then he pulled out some matches Struck One and placed it on the pile of newspapers when the fire took Williams pulled the bag from his pocket reached in and pulled out small handfuls of the powder with his fist over the fire he carefully started sprinkling on the Flames which made the fire all the more intense he then instructed everyone to put their faces into the smoke coming off the newspapers and breathe it in after a few deep inhales incredibly the rescue party started to feel a little stronger and had just enough energy to finish the climb out the substance William had is something called potassium chlorate when it burns it doesn't emit noxious smoke like woodf fires instead potassium chlorate produces oxygen when it's burned after being rejuvenated by the oxygen the rescue party managed to recover three bodies and higher levels on that trip but no one else they came across was alive after their own experience inside the mine Williams John and the mine Captain were positive that anyone who hadn't come out of the mine since the early morning wouldn't be leaving it alive the rescue effort came to an end later that night leaving the group to discuss what to do next they knew that whatever was affecting them was much more intense deeper down they also noticed a subtle sweet smell of burning wood further down but there was no visible smoke to indicate a fire either way though they knew something had filled the lower reaches of the mind with a lethal concentration of carbon monoxide gas with the remaining miners presumed dead in high levels of carbon monoxide where their bodies were located it would have been safest to wait until the mind was clear to begin the recovery effort John and Williams knew however that the heat in the mind would accelerate the decomposition of the body so the decision was made to begin recovery first thing the next morning at dawn Miners And even more volunteers showed up to lend their assistance the effort that day resulted in the recovery of 10 bodies but during this one of the volunteers from another m in the air was so overcome by gas at one point that he passed out and needed to be transported to the top in the Box by May 12th another five bodies had been recovered and the recovery effort had reached the 115 level but there was still one Minor's body hadn't been located unfortunately after everything else was thoroughly checked that meant the only place it could be was further down the problem was that the air at 115 was still so heavily saturated with carbon monoxide it would only get much worse as they descended before they continued Williams wanted to know exactly how much they were inhaling so he had bottles s down from the top that were filled with water when he got them to the 115 platform he tied a rope around himself and ascended the ladder to get closer to the next level which was 130 he then Uncorked the bottle and dumped and as the last drops fell the poisonous air rushed in and filled the bottle these samples could then be brought up and tested but by the time Williams and the others reached 115 he had already been inside the mine for hours while working on the third bottle Williams suddenly lost Consciousness and went limp on the Rope somehow the men holding the Rope managed to pull him back up to 115 but when he got there he was still unconscious so next one of the men punctured the compressed airline that ran down the shaft he then pulled Williams toward the pipe and placed his mouth right up to the hole which had fresh hair parents side Williams would regain Consciousness but he was still so weak that he had to be removed from the m in the box when he was finally safe and in the care of the doctor one of the other mine captains went down to where he had lost Consciousness and managed to locate the last Miner the body was maybe just 10 ft below but just like Williams before he could reach it the captain passed out and need to be rescued as well later that day Britain's Chief Inspector of mind sir Clement Lev Foster had finally arrived in laxia after a long journey from England he had been keeping tabs in the situation through Wireless Telegraph and telegram messages but he was finally able to get a more in-depth briefing when he was on site Clement brought a fresh set of eyes and ideas and since the urgency of the crisis has faded with the last man confirmed to be dead Clement saw no reason to begin a renewed recovery effort until the next day the next morning Clement arrived at the mine and his first order as the new recovery effort leader was to end the human testing of conditions inside the mine no one would be allowed down until he tests the air he then told the men to remove the box from the winch and attach the regular bucket he then set candles and a lantern in the bucket then lit the wick inside a small cage Clement also placed a mouse and attached the cage to the winch hook then foot by foot the bucket was lowered into the mine if there was a lack of oxygen anywhere the candle would go out and the mouse would be dead upon return to the top then looking down the shaft Clement watched the bucket until the candle started to go out based on the amount of rope used this occurred around the 115 level the mouse however was still alive when the bucket returned to the top Clement then took the captains and Williams down to 1115 to repeat the test and this time after leaving it at 1:30 for a few minutes the mouse was dead Clement then went on to repeat these tests over the next few days and was stumped by the results he expected the air quality to improve at 130 over time but there was only marginal progress as part of his brief un arrival Clement was told that all the ventilation doors in the main shaft were shut but with suspicion he asked again John assured him they were closed but Clement knew he had to be mistaken sure enough Clement found two ventilation doors wide open on level 100 then when the air still hadn't gotten any better even after closing those he knew there had to be more that were open you see these ventilation doors controlled the flow in and out of the min's many branching levels when all the ventilation doors were closed the flow of air went straight down the main shaft to the deeper reach of the mine without entering any of the offshoots if any of these were open the flow would be reduced as the current was split into several streams open enough doors above and the air at deeper levels went almost completely still incredibly this wasn't some new development at the mine this was a well documented problem and the miners often complained of bad air the further away from the main shaft they got however working with all the door shut wasn't an option work could be done in every tunnel on any given day this ventilation system was apparently so bad that the owners couldn't keep the mine open when July and August rolled around the hot summer air would blow into the naturally warm mine and make conditions completely unbearable everywhere and almost to the point of Suffocation more than 100 fathoms down unfortunately neither the parent company nor management really seem to care about the minor complet complaints though just in the days leading up to the ordeal there were two opportunities to prevent the tragedy the first was on May 5th when the mine was inspected by the mine captain in his report he found the mine to be in satisfactory condition 2 days later it was examined again and the report was filed mentioning nothing about ventilation problems on the contrary it contained remarks that the ventilation system was effective and working perfectly this second report was written by of all people Williams efforts to retrieve the last minor went on every day and just like every other the carbon oxide levels were too high some of the miners pleaded for permission to just go and get him but Clement refused the idea of grabbing the body with a grappling hook was also attempted but quickly abandoned when the hook Disturbed the air below them enough to send carbon oxide upwards forcing them to flee it wouldn't be all the way until June 7th almost a full month since the ordeal began when the miner's body was finally recovered it was that of 21-year-old Robert Kelly in the aftermath it was determined that the ventilation system as bad as it was wasn't the direct caus the tragedy but it did make things worse how much worse wasn't revealed until Clement's investigation was completed and an official report was released in it were the concentration results of the air samples taken from the mine the safe zone for carbon monoxide concentrations in the air we breathe every day is 0 to 6 parts per million in that range humans can breed the air for an average of 24 hours a day with no ill effects jump up to 9 or 10 parts per million and that average goes down to just 8 hours between 25 and 35 5 parts per million it drops to 1 hour and by 100 parts per million it's safe for just 15 minutes that's where carbon monoxide concentrations reach the severe category and at 800 parts per million humans can die within an hour of exposure the air deep down in snel M's main shaft had carbon monoxide concentrations of 10,700 parts per million that's 13 times greater than the concentration that can cause death in 1 hour giving the men 1 to 3 minutes from the moment of exposure to save themselves the ascent from the 130 level took the fittest of miners no less than half an hour this meant that those at 100 fathoms or below simply had no chance once they started to feel symptoms it was already too late in Clement's inspection of the mine as well he determined that a fire on levels 130 and 141 was to blame the fire was about as far away from the main shaft as anyone could be inside SN mine and that distance may have contributed to the tragedy the area where the fire was located didn't get much fresh air circulation even if all the doors were shut any fire that far down would likely smolder in of Rage due to the environment there was just enough oxygen to keep it going but not enough to allow it to overtake the mine in addition the shift on May 10th started just after Dawn on any other day the morning shift picks up where the shift the night before left off but the mine was closed on Sundays when the Saturday night shift ended none of the miners reported anything out of the ordinary so the fire had to begin between Saturday night and Monday morning considering the carbon monoxide levels Clement theorized it all started closer to Saturday night the previous week some of the miners were in the tunnel on the 130 level installing Timber supports since mines didn't have electricity miners used candles and lanterns to light their way in the tunnels many would put a chunk of Clay on their helmets then in the clay they'd stick a candle making a primitive headlamp miners had to keep an eye on their candles during a shift because if the Wicks burned out the men would be in complete darkness and that brought the work to a stop so they changed them during the down moments they did this even if the lit candle still had plenty of Wick left the safety procedure for this snare was simple all they had to do was ensure that there was no smoke coming from the wick before setting it aside men would often watch the candle until the smoke stopped or lick their fingers and use them to pinch the wick however either through carelessness forgetfulness or laziness this didn't always happen Clement believed a minor left a candle burning near a Timber pile on 130 and after the shift ended he never blew it out then for the rest of the weekend the fire smoldered and smoke filled the bottom levels with colorless odorless carbon monoxide when the minor showed up to work on Monday morning the lower levels were completely saturated and the gas had worked its way up to around level 40 since the gas was also weaker near the top of the shaft and gradually got more concentrated the deeper the miners went by the time many of them noticed symptoms it was already too late in the end 20 men between the ages of 21 and 46 were killed in the tragedy 19 on May 10th and a survivor in bad shape passed away in the hospital a few days after being rescued these men Left Behind 14 wives and 30 children if you made it this far thanks so much for watching if you have a story suggestion feel free to to submit it to the form found in the description and hopefully I will see you in the next one

Channel: Scary Interesting

Views: 1,684,917

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Id: FXqyASQsA7U

Length: 16min 34sec (994 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 10 2024