Single Record

Full Details

Details of Event: 4 December 1958: Rock Fall Kills Three Miners – Pit Due to Close - Three miners were killed and one was seriously injured by a fall of rock at Cameron mine, near Windygates, Fife, yesterday. The pit is one of the 20 in Scotland which the National Coal Board have decided to close. The men killed were Richard Teevan, aged 36, of Methil, William Wishart, aged 44, of Kennoway, and John Thomson, aged 41, of Methilhill, all in Fife. An under-manager, James Frew, aged 57, of Wemyss, Fife, was taken to hospital with a head injury. John Hunter, who escaped with minor injuries, said last night: “We were working in two groups. There was a crack like thunder, then the roof came tumbling down. I jumped on to the face, but Thomson and Teevan, trying to get clear, ran straight into the fall. I heard Teevan yell for help, but there was nothing I could do.” Robert Maxwell, who also had minor injuries, said: “We had just finished shot-firing and had started stripping coal when a huge stone came tumbling down on top of us. Teevan and I were trapped but I was partly saved by machinery which took the weight of the stone. Edward Henry (who was also slightly injured) pulled me out. Just then there was another heavy fall near and we heard Frew cry out. We could not get to him." All the dead men were married. Thomson leaves a widow and six children. [Times, December 5 1958]