UK’s network of abandoned mineshafts could kill you in MINUTES with plunging oxygen levels, hidden dynamite & corpses
THE UK’s network of abandoned mineshafts can kill in just minutes due to plunging oxygen levels and other hidden dangers.
Expert Peter Pink has revealed how a person can die within a few minutes due to deadly oxygen levels below ground level.
The Middlesbrough man, who has spent the last seven years navigating a network of disused mines, has told of how explorers can quickly become overcome by breathlessness when oxygen levels dip to around 12%.
Oxygen levels are normally at around 21% at ground level. He said: “You can die within minutes. When you are underground it can just start dropping.
“You can’t breathe or walk, not properly anyway – it feels like someone is sitting on your chest.
“You’re staggering all over, you can’t think properly and start slurring your words and then if you stay there long enough, you’ll pass out.”
Last year Peter and his pal Bob Johnson helped lead emergency services to the body of 24-year-old Adam Perkins.
Adam’s body was found inside Ayton Monument Mine after he was reported missing while on a camping trip in the area.
Peter found Adam’s rucksack in a section of tunnels where oxygen levels were critically low.
“A friend had sent me a post about this missing boy from Sheffield who was a mine explorer,” he said.
“I knew the mine really well so when I got home from work, I put my gear on and went out with a friend.
“I went down one of the main drifts and the oxygen was getting too low – the last time I checked it was 12%.
“I saw this bag on the floor with footprints leading off into the distance, where you don’t go.
“I looked inside and there was a box of stuff that had his name on it.
“So I ran out and phoned the emergency services.”
Peter has stressed that the country’s network of mineshafts pose a myriad of dangers, from treacherous false floors that can suddenly give way to rotting timber frames.
Peter, a full time carer, said that he had nearly fallen through a false floor despite his years of experience.
The chamber he fell into was flooded , other wise he could have been killed.
The veteran explorer always carrier a gas monitor to test the air underground, and sets a call out time.
If he does not make contact with his wife by an agreed time, she raises the alarm.
The northerner has now built up a significant following on TikTok, where he posts regular videos and photographs.
Over the years he has found relics from the past, such as sticks of rotten dynamite to graffiti from the 1850s.
Amazingly he found an old workshop in an ironstone mine that was left untouched since the 1950s.
He said: “Surprisingly the forge still smells like oil. There’s also a blacksmith’s hammer resting on the forge which has been left there since it closed in the 1950s.”
While Peter enjoy finding remnants from the past, he avoids leaving any trace behind.
He said: “You just leave footprints and don’t take anything.
“I’ve cleaned up a couple where there were beer cans and stuff like that.
“I don’t understand why people would drink in a mine.”
Peter began in 2017 when he stumbled upon a small hole in Loftus, North Yorkshire.
He said: “It went from that small hole to abandoned train tunnels and then I discovered the mines and I’ve never gone anywhere else.”