The pit's owners employed a policy of advanced mechanisation making the ‘Castle’ one of the best equipped and most productive collieries in the Ayrshire coalfield.

The colliery also boasted a great welfare programme for its employees including a new canteen and pithead baths (which had opened during the first week of September 1950).

On Thursday, 7 September 1950 at approximately 7.30 pm – during the afternoon shift – a large volume of liquefied peat or moss broke down into the No.

The inrush of liquid rushed back down the incline filling miles of underground workings and sealing off all escape routes to the surface.

As the men remained trapped underground, rescue teams began to try and reach them before they were engulfed by the encroaching sludge or they were overcome by the rapidly deteriorating air quality and gas.

A telephone line to the surface remained intact, allowing the trapped miners to provide details of their location to their rescuers.

A total of 87 sets of Siebe Gorman Salvus oxygen rebreathers (mainly from fire stations) were used to get the men out.