THE 40th anniversary of the worst pit disaster in Scotland this century was marked yesterday at a memorial service for the 47 miners who died.
Relatives and miners' representatives from across Scotland were among those who attended the service near Chryston, north-east of Glasgow, for the men who were asphyxiated by carbon monoxide fumes after an underground fire at Auchengeich Colliery, on September 18, 1959.
Bishop Joseph Devine, of Motherwell, local Labour MP Tom Clarke, and councillors from North Lanarkshire and East Dunbartonshire, where many of those who perished had lived, also attended the outdoor service at a memorial erected to the men near the former pithead.
Many laid wreaths before a two-minute silence was observed. Tributes then followed in honour of the miners, whose deaths led to safety in the industry being greatly improved.
The miners, aged from 20 to 62, including brothers and cousins, had been on a pit underground train on their way to an early shift when smoke from a fire which originated in the drive belt of a booster fan spread to wood props and laggings used as roof supports.
Only one miner on the 48-man bogey survived by covering his mouth and nose with his jacket. Although overcome by smoke, he managed to scramble to a point where he could be rescued.
News of the disaster at the colliery, which employed 830 men and had an output of about 730 tonnes of coal a day, numbed mining communities across Scotland and beyond.
An inquiry recommended several improvements in pit safety, including the wearing of ''self rescuers'' by miners which, in the event of a fire, would allow them to reach fresh air. Trials of the equipment had been suspended at the time of the disaster but were reintroduced later.
The pit, which opened in 1905, never recovered fully from the disaster and closed six years later. Its demise spelt the end for the village of Bridgend (population about 450), where some Auchengeich families had lived. All its houses were knocked down and cleared away in the same year.
Mr Danny Taylor, secretary of Auchengeich Miners' Welfare Club, told the gathering the whole country was shocked into a kind of numbness by the tragedy. He added: ''We are fortunate that a special bond still exists today among those affected by it.''
Mr Nicky Wilson, president of the National Union of Mineworkers (Scotland), said the cost to mining communities of producing coal to build the wealth of modern Britain was founded on tragedies such as Auchengeich.
He said: ''The history of mining is littered with tragedies and miners suffering from mining related diseases which prolonged suffering and shortened life-spans for which no amount of compensation can ever be adequate.
''This has been the price paid by miners, their families, and mining communities over the generations. Whilst we are proud of safety improvements made in the industry, this tragedy along with many others, reminds us of the need to be ever vigilant.''
Mr Clarke, whose family buried his ex-miner father the day before the disaster after he died from a mining-related disease at the age of 53, said the Auchengeich tragedy was the saddest event in the history of the area.
Mrs Jean Mitchell, 61, from Moodiesburn, whose father Michael Fleming, and uncles Martin Fleming and Alexander Lang died in the tragedy, said: ''I was in Glasgow to buy a coat as a present from my dad that morning.
''I heard news vendors shouting about a pit disaster but never gave it a thought that members of my family may have been involved. It was only when I got home that I realised the enormity of the situation. I was deaf for 10 days afterwards with shock.''
Mrs Helen Stark, 83, whose son John, 23, perished in the tragedy, said: ''Today's service has brought all the memories of the disaster flooding back. It was a terrible day - one of the worst of my life. Attending the service over the years, sharing the memories of it with other people, has helped to heal the wounds.''
Father-of-five John Shevlin was among those killed. One of his three sons, Gerard, 48, from Bank-nock, Stirlingshire, said yesterday: ''For weeks and months afterwards we still thought our dad was going to come home.
''It is good that so many people regularly attend the memorial service for those who died. It helps that they are sharing our loss.''
Scotland's worst recorded mining disaster was at Blantyre in 1877, when 209 miners died. One of the first pit disasters to be recorded officially happened at Bogle Hole Pit in Lanarkshire in 1846, when six men were killed. In 1851, 63 miners perished in an explosion at the Victoria Pit in Nitshill, Glasgow.
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