Commemoration service marks 100 years since Levant mining disaster
A service of commemoration has been held in Cornwall to remember the men who died in one of the county’s worst-ever mining accidents.
On October 20, 1919, a wooden transportation system called a ‘Man Engine’ collapsed - killing 31 men in the Levant tin and copper mine.
The mine near St Just was closed at the weekend while relatives of the victims attended a service at St Just Miner’s Chapel to pay tribute to them.
As part of the centenary, a team restored the graves of 15 of the men who died in the disaster and were buried at the chapel.
The man engine would take the miners into the deepest parts of the mine, and out again, using a system of moving wooden platforms.
On the fatal day, a link between the rod and the engine snapped with about 130 men on board, sending the timbers and platforms down the shaft.
The accident marked the beginning of the end of the once highly lucrative mine, which closed in 1933.