[3] The hole in the riverbed caused the river to flood into many interconnected mine galleries in the Wyoming Valley between the right-bank (western shore) town of Exeter, Pennsylvania, and the left-bank (eastern shore) town of Port Griffith in Jenkins Township, near Pittston.

The victims were Samuel Altieri, John Baloga, Benjamin Boyar, Francis Burns, Charles Featherman, Joseph Gizenski, Dominick Kaveliski, Frank Orlowski, Eugene Ostrowski, William Sinclair, Daniel Stefanides, and Herman Zelonis.

When it was safe to enter the mine, a workforce reinforced the spot with iron bars, built wooden bulkheads, and poured concrete into the prepared area through boreholes that had been drilled in the riverbed.

[10] Seven people were indicted on charges of involuntary manslaughter as a result of the disaster, including Robert Dougherty and Louis Fabrizio, owners of the Knox Coal Company; August J. Lippi, president of District 1 of the United Mine Workers; the superintendent and an assistant foreman; and two engineers from the Pennsylvania Coal Company.

[11] Twelve persons and three companies were convicted for giving or accepting bribes, or violations of the Taft-Hartley labor law, or tax evasion.

During the course of his trials, Lippi was found to be secretly a co-owner of the Knox Coal Company, in violation of Taft-Hartley labor law.

[13] After the disaster, the widows of the twelve victims did not receive death benefit payments from the Anthracite Health and Welfare Fund for more than four years.