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| Gleision deaths: Son of miner knew 'there was no chance' | Gleision deaths: Son of miner knew 'there was no chance' |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The son of one of the four men who died when a Swansea Valley mine flooded has told Swansea Crown Court he "knew straight away there was no chance for them boys". | The son of one of the four men who died when a Swansea Valley mine flooded has told Swansea Crown Court he "knew straight away there was no chance for them boys". |
| Surface worker Andrew Giles, the son of David Powell, 50, said he was in shock when he realised what had happened. | Surface worker Andrew Giles, the son of David Powell, 50, said he was in shock when he realised what had happened. |
| Garry Jenkins, 39, Philip Hill, 44, and Charles Breslin, 62, also died at the Gleision mine near Pontardawe. | Garry Jenkins, 39, Philip Hill, 44, and Charles Breslin, 62, also died at the Gleision mine near Pontardawe. |
| Manager Malcolm Fyfield and the mine's owners MNS deny manslaughter charges. | Manager Malcolm Fyfield and the mine's owners MNS deny manslaughter charges. |
| On the day of the disaster, 15 September 2011, Mr Giles said he heard a colleague, Nigel Evans, running out of the mine shouting. | |
| "We stopped everything we were doing and ran around to Nigel and he said straight away to phone the police and mine rescue," he told the court. | |
| Mr Giles called the emergency services at 09:21 BST, the court was told. | |
| He said: "I couldn't speak for long because I knew my father was down there... I was in shock." | |
| He then went into the mine through the main entrance with Nigel Evans. | |
| "The water level was so much I knew straight away there was no chance for them boys," he told the court. | |
| 'Like a ghost' | |
| By the time Mr Giles returned to the surface mine manager Mr Fyfield had managed to escape. | |
| The court has previously heard that Mr Fyfield was one of seven men working in the mine at the time of a controlled explosion and survived after he crawled out through sludge and dirt. | |
| The explosion had been carried out on as part of the mining process and the water swept through a closed-off section of the mine, the court has previously been told. | |
| Mr Fyfield was "shaking, looking like a ghost, white as anything," Mr Giles said. | |
| The manager had another miner's lamp as well as his own. | |
| Under cross examination, Mr Giles recalled what he later told police and confirmed he described Mr Fyfield as a "really tidy guy". | |
| Asked if he got on with Mr Fyfield, he replied: "Yeah, I did get on well with him". | |
| The court has also been told water was always present at the mine. | |
| On Thursday the court heard Mr Giles has been underground with Mr Fyfield on one occasion to check the water level in the older workings. | |
| He was asked if he had seen water there. | |
| "No, I could hear it. It was like a waterfall," he replied. | |
| The case continues. |