§ Mr. G. GRIFFITHS(by Private Notice) asked the Secretary for Mines whether he has any further information in regard to the accident at Brierley Colliery, Yorkshire, on Wednesday, 2nd December, to three young persons, who have since died?
§ Captain CROOKSHANKThe circumstances of this accident were as follow: At 10.50 a.m. on 2nd December, an electrically driven coal-cutting machine, operating on a longwall face at Brierley Colliery had just begun cutting when a fault developed in the trailing cable which was being dragged along by the machine and an electric flash resulted, caused by the severance of one of the live cores of the cable. Two men operating the coal cutter and one engaged in connection with a nearby conveyor were seriously burned and, I regret to inform the House that they have since died in hospital. Full investigations into the cause of the accident are being made by His Majesty's inspectors.