Westray tragedy to be marked, 25 years later: ‘Pure greed that took lives’
NEW GLASGOW, N.S. — When the Westray coal mine opened in northern Nova Scotia in 1991, Glenn Martin was lucky enough to land a well-paying job underground that was supposed to last 15 years.
However, he soon learned the mine under Plymouth, N.S., was not a safe place to work. He promised himself he would quit as soon as he had earned enough money to put new siding on his home.
“That mine was a godsend to him,” said his brother, Allen. “He wanted to fix up his house. That was his main goal … But it didn’t take long for him to realize that things were not right.”
In the pre-dawn darkness on May 9, 1992, Glenn Martin was killed along with 25 other miners when a deadly combination of methane gas and coal dust ignited, sending a huge fireball through the tunnels. Homes more than a kilometre away shook as a blue-grey flash lit up the night sky.