History of coal miners inventiveness in clothing their families. Mining has always been dangerous, because of methane gas explosions, roof cave-ins, and the difficulty of mines rescue. The worst single disaster in British coal mining history was at Senghenydd in the South Wales coalfield. On the morning of 14 October 1913 an explosion and subsequent fire killed 436 men and boys. It followed a series of many extensive Mining accidents such as The Oaks explosion of 1866 and the Hartley Colliery Disaster of 1862. Most of the explosions were caused by firedamp ignitions followed by coal dust explosions. Deaths were mainly caused by carbon
Mines in the Battle of Messines (1917) on 7 June 1917, the mines at Messines were fired within the space of 20 seconds. The joint explosion ranks among the largest non-nuclear explosions of all time and surpassed the mines on the first day of the Somme fired 11 months before. The sound of the blast was considered the loudest man-made noise in history. Reports suggested that the sound was heard in London and Dublin, and at Lille University's geology department, the shock wave was mistaken for an earthquake. Some eyewitnesses described the scene as "pillars of fire", although many also conceded that the scene was indescribable. The