The Protection Island mining disaster killed 16 miners and occurred on Protection Island near Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada.
The disaster occurred at 7:10 a.m.[1] on September 10, 1918 (1918-09-10) when the hoisting cable frayed on the cab that was lowering miners into the mine.
Six other cabs of 16 miners each had preceded the cab which fell 300 feet (~100 m) into the mine.
The bodies of the miners were mangled to the point where personal effects were used to identify the victims.
[2][3] It was later determined that salt water in the air had caused corrosion of the cable leading to the accident.