Accidents - Other areas

6 July 1878

Campbeltown – Colliery Accident – Three Men Drowned – Shortly after three o'clock on Saturday afternoon a mining accident occurred at the Drumlembie Colliery, belonging to the Argyle Coal and canal Company Ltd, situated on the estate Dilkevin, in the parish of Campbeltown, by which three of the miners lost their lives. It appear that the water broke into the mine in some unexplained way from an old disused working. There were a numbe r of men in different parts of the pit at the time, but on water being discovered to be flooding the workings they rushed to the bottom of the shaft, and succeeded in getting safely to the top, with the exception of three men named John Todd, Daniel M'Phail and Neil Smith, who were unable to escape from the pit in time and were drowned. Todd and M'Phail were both married, but Smith was unmarried. The bodies have not been recovered. The pit, which was flooded within about 100 feet of the surface, is being pumped as fast as possible, but it will take some time before it is cleared. One of the miners named Munro, who was among the last to leave the pit, states that he remained with Todd, one of the drowned men, waiting for the cage to descend, and that he (Munro) jumped and caught the rope as soon as the cage came down, expecting Todd to follow, but he heard the latter calling out, “Jamie, I am done; I can't get on.” Todd was about 60 years of age. The others were young men. [Scotsman 8 July 1878]

18 June 1931

Miner Killed At Brora - The dislodgement of a huge piece of coal front the roof of Brora Colliery yesterday resulted in the death of one miner and very severe injuries to another. Three men were working together when, without any warning, they were caught by the fall. Benjamin Bryden, Railway Terrace, Brora, was instantaneously killed, while George Lawrie, who had but a short time ago commenced work in the mine, was conveyed to the Lawson Memorial Hospital, Golspie, in a critical condition, The third miner escaped injury. This is the first serious accident which has occurred at this colliery , which is used principally as a means of supplying Brora wool mills with supplies for their plant. [Scotsman 19 June 1931]