Fraterville Mine disaster

United States historic place

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, and remains the worst disaster in the history of Tennessee. 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 was likely ignition of methane gas which had built up after leaking from an adjacent unventilated mine.

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