IN EAST Lothian we are proud of our mining heritage and a campaign is currently ongoing to protect and invest in the mining museum at Prestongrange, by Prestonpans.

But mining life was hard and, for many, it could end in tragedy.

Thankfully, the number of incidents recording multiple deaths are low, but 130 years ago it was only the fact the miners were on strike which avoided a major disaster for the community.

On August 30, 1887 a serious explosion rocked Prestongrange Colliery and claimed the lives of two men and a 14-year-old boy.

Reports at the time named father and son Frederick Curtis, 35, and Francis, 14, as two of the victims; the third was the colliery’s fireman James McEwan, who was 44.

Several other men were working in the pit when the explosion happened and reported being violently thrown to the ground by the force of the blast.

However, the bulk of the workforce were on strike at the time in what, it turned out, was a stroke of luck.

The explosion happened just after 6am and it was speculated that Mr Curtis and his son had gone down into the pit seam to collect their work tools without waiting for Mr McEwan, who carried the safety lamp.

The miners themselves carried open flame lamps and should have waited for Mr McEwan to check everything was OK before going in with their own lights.

The force of the explosion sent other men running to see what had happened but they were unable to get to the trio because of the afterdamp.

This toxic mixture of gases following an explosion in a mine can lead to a much larger explosion of coaldust and consists of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and nitrogen. It is the high content of carbon monoxide which is most deadly, depriving those trapped of oxygen.

Once the rescue team was able to enter the seam, they found all three dead.

It was reported at the time that Mr McEwan’s body was badly burned and Curtis Junior had suffered numerous injuries; in fact, his father appeared to have succumbed to the gas or suffocated in the coal dust cloud.

In a report following the explosion, which left Mr Curtis’ wife a widow with six children at home, witness Edward McCann, a roadsman, said that he had earlier gone down the pit with Mr McEwan and instructed him to inspect an area where two other men were going to work.

He said that Mr Curtis and his son had been told when they arrived not to go beyond the ‘danger station’, which was 70 fathoms from the bottom, until the fireman returned.

But Mr McCann said that when he returned he found them at the pit bottom, where they said they had been told to go on instructions from their manager.

A miner called Archibald, who was working in another part of the pit, told an inquiry into the deaths that the force of the explosion was so severe that he tumbled head over heels twice.