On This Day: Knockshinnoch mine collapse leaves 129 men trapped

SEPT 8, 1950: One of Britain’s biggest rescue missions was launched on this day in 1950 after a coal mine collapsed while 129 men were working 700ft below ground.

Eleven men were instantly crushed to death after a horizontal shaft caved in at Knockshinnoch Castle Colliery in Scotland following heavy rain.

And two more miners died after becoming separated from the other 116 men, who were all eventually rescued after four days beneath the surface.

A British Pathé newsreel captures the fraught rescue mission while worried wives and other residents of New Cumnock, Ayrshire kept a vigil outside the pit.

[On This Day: LeMans crash kills 83 fans]

Aerial footage showed a crater the size of a football pitch on a peat bog, which demonstrated the huge scale of the collapse.

Villagers were filmed trying to fill the opening with straw and timber to prevent any further slippage while firemen pumped water out of a nearby stream.

Pitmen from nearby collieries were also seen helping to reach the men by digging a 30ft hole through a seam of coal from an abandoned mine next door.

Others manned a pump to reduce the presence of dangerous gasses, which were hampering the rescue effort.

The possibility of explosion meant that teams could only use hand tools to dig in a bid to minimise the risk of a spark.

Also the noxious gasses meant that rescuers had to work in relays in the cramped tunnels.

One of the workers collapsed and had to be carried to the surface because the air was so foul.

Luckily, a telephone line linking the mine to the surface was not severed in the cave-in and the miners were able to communicate with those above ground.

The trapped men kept their spirits up by singing and performing comedy routines.

Rescuers eventually reached them after two days of digging.

But it took another 48 hours to get all the trapped miners to the surface because each man had to brought out wearing heavy breathing apparatuses.

[On This Day: Biggest Grand National upset ever]

Many of the men were so weak that they had to be carried by teams of volunteers through the three-mile route to exit the mine.

One of the trapped men, Andrew Houston, was later awarded the George Medal for bravery after taking charge leading the men to a safer part of the pit.

The rescue was viewed by many as a miracle as so few men had survived pit collapses in the past.

The deadliest mining disaster in British history occurred in 1913 when 439 men were killed after a gas explosion at Senghenydd Colliery near Caerphilly, South Wales.

But the Knockshinnoch rescue is dwarfed by 2010 Copiapo accident in Chile when 30 gold and copper miners were saved after spending a record 69 days underground.