Fraterville Miners' Circle - Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Fraterville Miners' Circle - Credit: Wikimedia Commons
The Fraterville Mine disaster was a coal mine explosion that occurred on May 19, 1902 near the community of Fraterville, in the U.S. state of Tennessee. Official records state that 216 miners died as a result of the explosion, from either its initial blast or from the after-effects, making it the worst mining disaster in the United States' history. However, locals claim that the true number of deaths is greater than this because many miners were unregistered and multiple bodies were not identified. The cause of the explosion (although never fully determined) was likely ignition of methane gas which had built up after leaking from an adjacent unventilated mine.Allen Coggins, Fraterville Mine Disaster. Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture, 2002. Retrieved: 5 May 2009.Coal Creek Watershed Foundation, Coal Creek: War and Disasters. 2000-2009. Retrieved: 5 May 2009. Read more on Wikipedia
Source: en.wikipedia.org