But the inrush of water had blocked the main gate and made the tail gate impassable. Two large holes appeared in a farmer’s field directly above the point where the accident happened as the water flooded into the colliery workings. Efforts were made to plug the hole - if the men were alive the flood of water had to be stopped.

The underwater rescue team enters the pit

Keith Stone, who had fled from the oncoming water, was one of the first to make his way back into the pit: "The supplies that came into the pit itself was unbelievable. There was safety equipment, towels, overalls. No expense was spared regarding getting the men out."

A rescue attempt plan had been drawn up. A piggyback tunnel was drilled through solid rock and a drilling rig was brought in to force an air link to high ground where it was hoped the men could have taken refuge. The air below ground was increasingly toxic.

A drilling rig was brought in to break through to an area where the trapped miners may have taken refuge

Only when the rescuers got through was it realised that it was impossible. One body was recovered but it was felt to be too dangerous to reach the other six.

Arthur Scargill says: "I was one of those who wanted the operation to continue. First of all, I wanted to get to the men because their loved ones needed to recover their bodies if they were dead and there was a possibility that they could be alive. It was important in my view, if we were to discover what exactly had taken place, to go into the area where the accident had occurred."

Mr Scargill believes this was an accident that should never have happened: "If the National Coal Board had simply set on geologists in order to establish whether or not the geological area was safe, then they would have discovered it was not and they would never have gone ahead with that coal face and, as a result, the men who died would have been alive."