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The stories of the most devastating mining disasters to ever hit Wales have been told.

In November a poignant ceremony was held in the Rhondda to remember 150 years on from when 178 men and boys died having descended 278 yards below the ground for work at Ferndale and Blaenllechau colliery.

Sadly the disaster is one of a long list of mining disasters that took place across Wales.

John Smith runs the extensive research website Welsh Coal Mines and said he, together with another member, was researching every fatal accident ever reported in south Wales.

Mr Smith said the number of miners killed in disasters amounts to “over 6,000” down the years.

Using research from the website, which utilises information from newspapers and archives, as well as other sources, here are the stories of the six biggest mining disasters to ever hit Wales.

All of them had more than 150 casualties and it is testament to the fatal nature of such events that Aberfan, when 144 were killed after a waste tip slid down the mountain in 1966, was, according to the site, the eighth most deadly in Welsh history.

Universal Colliery – Senghenydd, Aber Valley

(Image: Western Mail)

When people think of a Welsh mining disaster Senghenydd is often one of the first mentioned, and it’s said the horror of the early 20th century still casts a grim shadow over the nation to this day.

At 8am on October 14, 1913, a huge explosion rocked the tiny town north of Caerphilly .

The blast came from the mine belonging to the Universal Colliery, which was the biggest employer in the area. Of the 950 miners who had been below ground that day some 439 were killed, making it the worst disaster in British history.

According to Caerphilly council, the most likely cause of the explosion was either an electrical spark from electric signalling gear igniting methane gas or firedamp.

So violent were the explosions that the cage of one of the pits was blown back up the shaft to wedge in the pithead winding gear.

Rescue teams from around the Valleys rushed to the scene but their attempts were hampered by increasingly dangerous conditions including fallen debris and raging fires.

They did have some success, with the miners’ families greeting each escape with joy and hope their loved one would be the next to surface.

(Image: Daily Mirror)

Rescue attempts lasted three weeks but, by then, it was just bodies emerging from the pit.

An estimated 1,500 dependents in the area were bereaved by the huge disaster.

A subsequent inquiry heard that several breaches of regulation were uncovered, the most serious being the inability of the ventilating fans to reverse the airflow, even though legislation ruled this should have been implemented in January.

It led to 17 charges against the colliery manager and four against the Universal Steam Coal Company.

Albion Colliery – Cilfynydd, Pontypridd

(Image: Publicity picture)

According to the Welsh Coal Mines website, there were 1,500 men and boys employed at Albion Colliery, Cilfynydd, in 1893 and the safety record there was “second to none”.

But that record was to tragically come to an end on June 23 the next year when a massive explosion ripped through the underground workings killing 290 men and boys – the worst mining disaster in south Wales to that date.

In the coming hours and days, many of the bodies brought to the surface were so badly mutilated that identifying them was “virtually impossible”.

Almost the entire community lost someone in the tragedy and there were also upsetting reports of corpses being carried to the wrong home.

One household in the Howell Street area of the Rhondda Cynon Taf village lost 11 members: the father, four sons, and six lodgers were all killed.

A total of 123 of the 125 horses working underground were also killed.

The cause of the disaster, still the second most lethal in Wales to this day, was attributed to coal dust being ignited following an explosion of firedamp.

Despite the disaster the colliery was reopened within two weeks.

Sadly the misfortune was not to end there as fewer than 15 years later another explosion happened at the site, killing six men, this time believed to be caused by a spark from a lamp relighter igniting a pocket of gas.

Prince of Wales – Abercarn, Caerphilly

In Abercarn those killed in the 2001 terror attacks on the United States are not the only people the community remembers on September 11.

That’s because on the morning of September 11, 1878, some 268 of the 325 men and boys working at the Prince of Wales Colliery perished when a massive explosion ripped through its workings.

Due to the subsequent raging fires deep within the pits, and fear of further explosions, rescue teams were ordered back to the surface after only reaching 300 yards down.

The explosion also caused huge damage to the mine’s roadways and the bottom of the main shaft.

Days later government inspectors, along with the colliery manager, took the decision to flood the mine using water from the nearby Monmouthshire Canal.

This hideous process took over two months and 35m gallons of water before engineers were sure all blazes had been extinguished.

The water then had to be pumped out before the bodies could be removed.

But because of the processes not all men were recovered and many were left entombed. One skeleton was uncovered 27 years later, complete with clothes and boots.

According to Welsh Coal Mines it was the worst colliery disaster ever recorded in Gwent.

Gresford Colliery – Gresford, Wrexham

(Image: Hulton Archive)

It was on September 22, 1934, that an explosion ripped through the Dennis Section at the colliery killing 266 men.

According to the Daily Post the dead comprised 261 miners, three rescue men, and one surface worker, leaving 164 widows and 242 fatherless children. Following the disaster the colliery was closed for years putting 1,700 men on the dole.

All the casualties lived in the Wrexham area but only 11 bodies were ever recovered.

By 1934 a total of 2,200 coal miners were employed at the colliery, with 1,850 working underground and 350 on the surface. Three coal seams were worked at Gresford. The Dennis shaft produced softer industrial coal but was prone to firedamp.

Gresford was always known for its big concentration of gas. Today it would have been siphoned off and used to fire surface boilers or fed into the domestic mains.

(Image: Topix- Thomson Newspapers)

Working conditions at the colliery itself were said to be very dusty and warm, with temperatures often in excess of 90 degrees Fahrenheit.

Following the disaster rescuers battled for 40 or more hours trying to push back the fires in an effort to reach the men known to be trapped behind the fire but advanced no more than a yard or two.

An inquiry was launched – with the likely cause thought to be an explosion caused by a build-up of gas, chiefly methane, which was ignited, possibly simply by a spark from a metal tool – but no answers were provided and to this day it is still unknown what caused the explosion.

Coal production restarted over a year later in January 1936.

Ferndale and Blaenllechau Colliery – Ferndale, Rhondda

November 8, 1867, started just like any other day for the 340 men and boys working at Ferndale and Blaenllechau colliery as they descended 278 yards beneath the surface.

But during the afternoon shift disaster struck as two explosions ripped through the mine – the force of which swept along the drifts and workings and up the shaft with “incredible power”.

Accounts from the time describe flames shooting from the mouths of the pit as two explosions of methane (firedamp) ripped through the expanse of underground tunnels.

The sound of the explosions echoed through the Valley, terrifying wives and children who flocked to the pit in the hope of finding loved ones.

By Saturday morning 53 bodies had been brought up by the extensive rescue operation, with the horrifying injuries laid bare for all to see.

Witnesses described some of the men and boys as “burnt” or “roasted to a cinder”, with their skin and flesh dropping off their frames at the slightest touch. Others were burned around the face with all their hair singed and their eyes “looking like holes fixed with tar”.

More masses of unshapely human beings caused further horrific scenes. In one house a father and his three sons aged 20, 19 and 15 were laid out on the floor, with just enough of their faces bearing a similar resemblance.

The rescue effort would ultimately last a month as workers recovered the bodies of 178 men and boys who perished, with some as young as 12 years old.

Local historian Alun Clement, author of Passages of Life in Ferndale and District, said: “The scenes were of mourning, desolation, and woe. The sharp sudden hysterical shrieks, uncontrollable crying of the wife, mother or sister, on recognising the beloved ones must have been deeply chilling to witness.”

Devastatingly, 18 months later on June 10, 1869, another horrific explosion took place killing 53 men and boys.

Llanerch Colliery – Abersychan, Torfaen

(Image: "Illustrated London News")

A massive explosion at the Llanerch Colliery killed 176 men and boys at just before 9am on February 6, 1890.

The blast was said to have been heard from miles around the Torfaen pit and journalists from the Free Press were the very first on the scene.

According to Torfaen council, who commemorated 125 years since the disaster in 2015, it was caused by a “dangerous combination” of naked flame lights and “misplaced faith” in the colliery’s employers’ ventilation system.

Of the 176 dead 44 were boys under the age of 15, with the average age of those killed 27.

Memorials, funerals and an inquest followed, with the aftermath reported in the Pontypool Free Press at the time.

An account by WB Witchell said: “As soon as I heard of the catastrophe I went at once to the scene of the explosion. Such a scene I never saw before and hope never to see again. Such a terrible stroke which has been duly brought before our notice by you, and the tremendous sorrow and affliction brought to scores of homes no words can possibly express.”

The inquest found most of the men had died “in consequence of an explosion of inflammable gas” but no blame was laid on the managers of the mine, deeming their belief that conditions there were safe as “reasonable”.

For more information, or to view the other disasters in Wales, visit www.welshcoalmines.co.uk .