2-798-460 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Haswell Colliery explosion - burial of the dead, 1844. On 28 September 1844, 95 men and boys were killed in an explosion at Haswell Colliery in County Durham. "Those killed by the flame were blackened and scorched, some barely recognisable even by their nearest relations...Those killed by choke damp showed no expression of pain. Twenty putters were found lying clasped hand in hand, huddled together in that long last sleep of death". In one street, every house except one lost loved ones. An inquest showed that the explosion was caused by coal dust igniting. From "Illustrated London News", 1844, Vol V.