Room VII (Caretaker's Building)

The history of mine rescue in the Nógrád coal basin

Due to the dangers associated with coal mining (collapse, fire, water and sand intrusion, gas, flash fire and coal dust explosion), the development of mine rescue became necessary as coal extraction became more intensive.

During the early mining period, collapse accidents were common in the tunnels dug along the coal outcrops. With the development of technology, the risk of gas and fire also appeared when reaching deeper layers. The spontaneous combustion of coal seams was particularly characteristic of the northern mines (Inaszó, Salgó, Szilváskő, Vecseklő). The risk of severe fire in the Nógrád mines increases from north to south and from east to west. Carbon dioxide gas occurred in smaller quantities primarily in the Kisterenye mines ( Újlak , Vizslás), the largest gas eruption was in Tiribes shaft in 1964. Hydrogen sulfide appeared temporarily in the northern and central mines of the coal basin, with water from old operations.

In the 19th century, the most skilled miners in the mine were alerted to collapses and mine fires, there was no mine rescue organization at either the plant or company level. The first known record of a successful mine rescue operation is attributed to the mine superintendent Frigyes Gerber, under whose leadership on November 7, 1888, miners trapped for 56 hours in the József Mine were rescued.

The first mine rescue station was established in Inászó in 1904 with 5 Neuper mine rescue devices, which were successfully used in 1905 in the construction of fire barriers in Ferenc shaft. In 1907, 13 Draeger regenerating mine rescue devices were purchased, 3 of which were also equipped with telephones. In 1912, after the closure of the Inászó mine, the station was moved to Teréz-táró, whose equipment by then consisted of electric hand lamps, stretchers, telephones and oxygen filling pumps.

In 1914, the rescue station moved to the József shaft engine house building in Salgótarján, where practical training was assisted by an experimental storage and shaft, a smoke chamber, and a separate practice and training room.

From 1915, József Soltész, chief mine doctor, and from 1930, Imre Zemplényi, mine doctor, performed the medical duties of the rescue station. The commander of the rescue station was always the chief engineer or mining engineer of one of the mining plants. First, mining engineer János Höss Nagy, and then from 1938, mining engineer Jenő Schmidt Jr. served as the commanding officer.

In the 1940s, a rescue team consisting of 1 leader and 30 trained rescuers operated in Salgótarján. Of the 30 rescuers, 20 were stationed in Salgótarján and 10 in Mizserfa. They participated in exercises 4 times a year, where they learned about underground rescue work as well as the latest devices and equipment. The mine rescuers were selected from healthy, volunteer mine workers between the ages of 21 and 40.

Until 1955, before the establishment of the new Central Mine Rescue Station in Salgótarján, there was no unified company mine rescue organization covering the entire coal basin. There were smaller stations with 12-15 people per plant, for which workers with good physical and professional skills were selected. In 1955, the mine rescuers established a rescue training facility in the former József slope shaft with a 60 C° heat chamber, a weight-pulling device, and a crawler.

In 1955, a permanent duty service was introduced, which was staffed by 8 people. A Csepel-type alarm vehicle was used to dispatch the mine rescuers to the site. The equipment was replaced with a Draeger 160/A mine rescue device in 1948.

With the mining of new coal fields, the risk of water intrusion and gas explosions increased, and mine fires were frequent. In the 1950s and 1960s, mine rescue services were called out to mine fires and accidents on average 20-22 times a year. The mines of the Róna and Zagyva mines were particularly dangerous. In the Inászó, Székvölgy, Szilváskő and Vecseklő mines, the coal seam often burned in the pillars left behind by the chamber excavations. The mine rescue services built fire barriers here and saved the machines and equipment. In addition, the southern mines (Kányás, Tiribes, Ménkes and Szorospatak, which suffered from frequent water and sand intrusions and were threatened by methane gas and coal dust explosions) were also in great need of the mine rescue service.

Due to gas eruptions, the use of the Dézsi escape device was introduced in 1963.

In 1964-65, mine rescuers established an underground mining museum in the abandoned passages of the former József slope shaft.

In the 1970s, the use of MEDI-type rescue equipment was uniformly introduced in the mining region of northern Hungary.

In 1982, the mine rescue station moved to Tiribes, where a new training depot was also established. In 1991, the mine rescue station was moved to Nagybátony, in the training workshop building.

The commanders of the period after 1945 were István Pilinyi , József Patvaros, István Tibor Piletics and Gyula Jenei, Sándor Nagy, Gyula László, Ferenc Szabó and Géza Czene.

The mine rescue service claimed a fatality in 1960. Pál Kuborczik lost his life due to an explosion of methane that suddenly leaked out during the drainage of the Gáti II mine in Mátranovák.

In the first quarter of 1993 - with the liquidation of the company - the Central Mine Rescue Station ceased to exist.















Mining accident, mining danger in the Nógrád coal basin



Among the mining accidents during the nearly 150 years of production of the coal basin, the most common were collapse accidents. Most often, coal blocks that broke off during mining caused fatal injuries and wounds. This happened, for example, in 1902 in the András mine in Baglyasalja , where a broken coal block caused the death of one of the miners. In December 1903, during the mining of a coal pillar in the Forgách mine, the main shaft broke off and buried the miners working there. In January 1929, 3 miners lost their lives as a result of the collapse in the II/A mine in Salgóbánya. In the summer of 1957, 5 miners died in the collapse in Ménkes. In March 1972, a miner died due to a main shaft collapse in one of the front mining operations of the Csurgó-táró in Mátranovák. On June 22, 1983, the mine rescuers were able to pull 2 miners out of the partial collapse of the Kányás mine, only to find them dead. (On the same day, a massive explosion on Márkushegy in Oroszlány claimed the lives of 37 miners.)

In the 1950s and 1960s, the biggest danger was posed by mine fires in the Zagyva and Róna Mines and in the Kányás Mine. In 1963, a 100 m long shaft burned in Kányás, where the mine rescuers had to take turns every 8-10 minutes due to the extreme heat.

In mine fires and explosions, the formation of toxic carbon monoxide gas had to be taken into account. Therefore, the measurement of carbon monoxide was very important in mine rescue work. The use of the Mining Self-Rescue Device with carbon monoxide filter was introduced after the 1959 Szücs mining accident in the Mátra region.

The biggest problem was the water and gas leaks from the old mine shafts. Fortunately, the 1888 József mine water leak, which also released a large amount of CO2, ended with the rescue of the trapped miners.

The József inclined shaft in Salgótarján was one of the mines most at risk of water intrusion..

On February 8, 1926, hydrogen sulfide gas flowing in with water from a hole in an old exploration tunnel in the Sára slope shaft in Baglyasalja caused the death of 7 miners.

In July 1943, 3 people lost their lives and 14 were injured in a blast explosion in the Csigakút slope mine in Kisterenye. Due to the blast in the mines in Kisterenye, the mining authority introduced the use of safety lamps. In the Gyula mine in Kazár, which was opened in 1920, blasts were frequent, so it was necessary to work with a closed lamp.

In 1962, 8 people died in the Kistelek mine of the Mizserfa mining plant when methane gas flowing in from a previously mined coal deposit exploded due to open-flame lamps.

In March 1962, a large amount of CO2 flowed into Tiribes, flooding the entire mine, all the way to the surface. The mine's main ventilator also stopped working, but fortunately, since it was a public holiday, the gas leak did not cause any casualties.

On January 4, 1989, a large amount of wet sand poured into the preparatory tunnel of a front extraction field in Kányás after a collapse, which claimed the lives of 3 miners.