The afternoon shift deputy, R. Ashton, entered the district about 2.30 p.m. travelling along the main belt gate. After inspection of the two outbye back rippings, where men were at work, he went to the inbye back rip, 82 yards from the face, where J. Hill and B. Holliday had bored the three shot holes, four feet deep and six inches from the strong smooth roof, one near the middle of the roadway and the others close to the sides. He told the men he would take his clothes farther inbye and gave them instructions to cover up the armoured electric cable which was lying on the floor about two feet from the side of the road. The men covered the cable with a piece of old conveyor belting, 56½ inches long and 19 inches wide laid lengthwise over the cable immediately beneath the roof to be blasted; they claim that they also used several pieces of timber as additional protection.

On his return the deputy tested for firedamp at the ripping lip and along the gate outbye and inbye and claims that no gas was found. He then prepared the charges for the shots, using 7 ozs. of Viking sheathed explosive and a No. 6 L.T. detonator for each hole, and allowed the two workmen to stem the centre and right side holes while he stemmed the left. The stemming used was a good quality clay sent from the surface and each hole was stemmed to within nine inches of the mouth. After this the deputy again tested for gas in the immediate vicinity of the shot hole, then sent J. Hill to the face to act as guard, and took B. Holliday with him to the firing position some 25 yards outbye.

The shot was fired with the normal sound of falling material, followed by a further fall with almost at once a hissing sound and a spurt of flame. The flame travelled inbye and outbye and was followed by a blast which raised clouds of dust. The deputy told the back rippers to crawl outbye along the conveyor belt to simplify travelling in the bad visibility and he went outbye along the conveyor gate to the junction with the left side intake where he told workmen to go as quickly as possible to the pit bottom and obtain assistance. He then went along the left intake gate, meeting some injured men who were walking outbye, and proceeded all round the face and return airway to assess the position. Subsequently, he made his way outbye and reported to the manager that he had been all round the district, that the ventilation was normal and there were no falls or fires.

The first official outside the affected area to realise that something was wrong was the afternoon deputy, R. Nelson, who noticed the sudden blast of air as he travelled the North district, which is in close proximity to North West 1, and got in touch by telephone with the afternoon overman, F. Allsopp, who was in the pit bottom office. The overman told him to go to the overcast while he went around the pit bottom. Nelson found the overcast was all right and after meeting men who told him of the incident on North West 1 he reported to the manager, then went to the end of the North West 1 return airway to see what conditions were like and if possible to travel to the face. He found the air thick with dust and decided not to go.

When overman Allsopp heard of the incident he gave instructions for all men to be withdrawn from the seam, then, taking with him an electrician, Colin Rogers, he set off into the district. At the shaft bottom sub-station he gave instructions for all switches to be switched off and placed another electrician in charge to see that they were not put on until instructed by him. As he passed the shaft side some men from the district were already there and he was told by one of the uninjured back rippers that the incident had affected the face and the conveyor gate. Taking Rogers with him he went along the conveyor gate. The roadway was full of dust and with difficulty they reached the back ripping where the shot had been fired. There was no sign of burning but there was a strong smell described as "rather like bitumen ". From there they went to the face where they found injured men at the roadhead and on the right side face. The air was thick with dust with visibility at two or three yards. Finding the inbye telephone out of order the overman sent Rogers with a message to the manager, instructing Rogers to travel out along the left side face and roadway. At some distance along the left side roadway Rogers found several injured men making their own way out of the pit and he continued with them until they were met by first-aid party.

In the meantime, overman Allsopp had been joined by a deputy named Jones and they proceeded to give morphia to the injured men. The work of rescue and first aid was promptly organised and efficiently carried out. All persons working in the main conveyor gate inbye of the seat of the explosion and along the two faces suffered from burns, a total of 20 casualties. The last injured man was taken out of the pit at 4.50 p.m., less than two hours after the incident. All the injured were taken to hospital and of the 19 detained six subsequently died.