inrush

A 2019 report by Turkey’s Court of Accounts, which was shared by an opposition lawmaker and some media, said there were “serious accident risks” of firedamp explosions at a depth of 300 meters below sea level and urged the mine to follow inrush directives as gas content was already high where samples were taken.

While it's not known what, if any, impact these alleged illegal workings had on the inrush, Lee Reynolds, a former surveyor for Gleision mine who gave evidence in the trial, questioned whether they had been noticed or acted on by the HSE.

He called on authorities to look into whether opportunities to improve safety at the mine prior to the inrush had been missed.

The water inrush at the Gleision drift mine, near Cilybebyll, Neath Port Talbot, on 15 September 2011, happened after the men blasted through to old, disused workings in an effort to improve air circulation in the mine.

But by then, the heat from the fire had already broken out windows at the back of the trailer and when the door was opened, the inrush of oxygen caused the blaze to intensify, Kepler said.