CANADA: In the Deepest Mine

At 3 p.m. last Thursday 174 men hung their brass identity disks in the lamphouse of Cumberland No. 2 colliery and went below the quiet, tree-shaded streets of Springhill, Nova Scotia (pop. 7,000) into the deepest mine in North America. Before the shift ended, more than half were trapped underground in Canada’s worst mine disaster in 44 years. At week’s end twelve men were known dead, another 81 missing and presumed dead.

What trapped the men was a “bump,” a hazard peculiar to Nova Scotia soft coal mines, in which excavated seams compress with near-explosive force, sending up clouds of gas. Coming at 8:05 p.m., the rumbling shock tumbled dishes all over town. At the colliery, the miners’ wives looked at the tagboard and waited. Only a few sobbed. Within an hour volunteer rescuers arrived, each toting 45 Ibs. of special oxygen equipment, and started down the 13,800-ft. shaft. Eighty-one survivors were brought up, their faces blank with shock. But the faces of the others were not to be seen, except in death.