Miner tried to rescue colleagues with his bare hands

A YORKSHIRE miner has told an inquest how he desperately tried to dig two trapped colleagues from a pile of rubble using his bare hands.
A roof collapsed in Kellingley Colliery in September 2011A roof collapsed in Kellingley Colliery in September 2011
A roof collapsed in Kellingley Colliery in September 2011

Geoffrey Winstanley struggled to contain his emotion as he spoke about how he tried to rescue Gerry Gibson and Philip Sheldon after a roof collapsed in Kellingley Colliery in September 2011.

Mr Gibson, 49, from Sherburn-in-Elmet, North Yorkshire, died from asphyxiation when he was buried by the rock fall in the pit, the inquest in Selby heard today.

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Mr Sheldon was rescued by fellow miners and was able to walk from the pit with minor injuries.

Mr Winstanley, who was working in a team of four with Mr Gibson, Mr Sheldon and Graham Brown at the time of the roof collapse, said: “There was a big bang and I turned round, I couldn’t see anything because of the dust and the debris. I shouted ‘Are you clear?’ and Graham shouted ‘No, Phil’s trapped’.”

He continued: “I ran down the chamber and back down to where Phil was. He was trapped by his waist and there was a strap across him. We were digging him out with our hands but couldn’t get to him because of the mess.

“I said to Phil ‘Where’s Gerry?’, he said ‘He was stood by the side of me’. I looked to the side of him and there was just a big pile of rubble, no physical signs of Gerry at all.

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“Once we realised Gerry was missing, we all dived over and started digging. We didn’t know how deep it was, we were just using our hands.”

Mr Winstanley, who was operating machinery supporting the roof at the time, described the situation as “horrendous” and said he and his colleagues eventually managed to uncover Mr Gibson’s face and head but there were no signs of life.

He told the inquest he made a decision to continue to free Mr Sheldon before uncovering Mr Gibson from the rubble and accompanying him back to the surface.

Mr Sheldon also broke down in tears as he listened to the evidence of his colleague and later told the inquest about the attempts to save him and Mr Gibson.

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“They were all digging with their bare hands,” he said. “They didn’t have any care for their own safety.”

The inquest into Mr Gibson’s death heard there had been another roof collapse at the mine, which is situated on the border between West and North Yorkshire, just five days earlier.

Mr Winstanley and Mr Sheldon both said they were aware of the previous collapse but had not received a specific safety talk about the incident and were not aware of an exclusion zone within the mine.

Extra roof supports were used in the pit after the first collapse but these were not being used on the day of Mr Gibson’s death on September 27, 2011.

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Mr Gibson, who was originally from Shotts, North Lanarkshire, and Mr Sheldon were trapped while working at the coal face 2,625ft (800m) underground.

A post-mortem examination found that Mr Gibson died from mechanical asphyxia caused by the roof collapse at Kellingley mine.

The report concluded that the miner would have been rendered unconscious immediately and death would have happened very quickly.

Mr Gibson’s wife, Brenda, attended the inquest with her son, Sean, and other members of her husband’s family.

The jury inquest is due to continue for the rest of the week.