25/04/2014 BBC Wales Today

Good evening. A miner working at the Gleision Colliery has been

describing his dramatic escape when the pit flooded, killing four of his

colleagues. David Wyatt described how he'd been pinned down by the

volume of water - but managed to frantically crawl to safety. Nick

Palit reports. The 15th of September 2011 and rescuers work frantically

at the Gleision mine hoping to save the lives of four men trapped

underground. But their efforts were in vain. David Powell, Gary Jenkins,

Philip Hill and Charles Breslin all drowned, after 650,000 tonnes of

water poured into the area where they were working 275 metres into

the mountain. Prior to the flooding, explosives had been used to break

coal away from the seam. The company which own the mine and the mine

manager were charged with manslaughter. Today at Swansea Crown

Court, miner David Wyatt described what happened on the day the tragedy

unfolded. Mr Wyatt, who'd been working at the pit since March 2010,

said it was his job to load coal onto the conveyor belt, or Panzer.

He described how he'd been at his station about ten yards away from

fellow miner Garry Jenkins working in cramped conditions with a roof

height of just two foot six inches in places. He said suddenly there

was a noise like a jet engine, like whooshing. Close to tears, he said

how he jumped onto the conveyor belt. I crawled, I crawled he said.

There was no sign of Gary, no light. He told the court he could

hear the noise behind in getting louder and louder and then it pinned

me against the wall. He described how he rolled over the conveyor belt

and managed to get 40 or 50 yards up the main drift until exhaustion

forced him to stop. He said the water stopped four yards behind him.

If it had still been living, I probably wouldn't be here, he told

the jury. As he tried to crawl out of the mine he screamed at colleague

Nigel Evans who was in front of him to get out quickly. This map, which

was shown in court, shows the size and complexity of the Gleision

Colliery. This is where the men would enter the mine. At the bottom

of the main drift is what's called Heading one or H1. This is where

Gary Jenkins' body was later found. This is where the three other men

breached old workings, releasing enough water to fill an Olympic size

swimming pool. Experts estimate the flood water was travelling at speeds

of up to 21 miles per hour. Mine manager Malcolm Fyfield just escaped

in time. Today the first police inspector on the scene described how

Mr Fyfield exited the mine dishevelled, soaking wet and with a

gash on his head. Mr Fyfield denies four charges of manslaughter through

gross negligence and the mine operators, MNS Mining, deny four

counts of corporate manslaughter. The trial continues. The Office of

the Information Commissioner has confirmed it's investigating after a

data breach affecting at least three Welsh councils. Rhondda Cynon Taf

says details from the full Electoral Role were accidentally released in

March, due to a computer error. -- electoral roll. Caerphilly and

Torfaen councils have admitted they've been affected by the same

glitch. All the local authorities say they have taken action to try to

fix the errors. The Labour Assembly Member for the Cynon Valley,

Christine Chapman, has announced she'll be standing down at the next

election in two years. Ms Chapman has represented the seat since 1999.

She twice served in the Welsh Government. Wales' three national

parks should be stripped of their planning powers as a first step

towards abolishing them altogether. That's the call from the Farmers'

Union of Wales. It claims the parks are anti-farming and anti-business.

Abigail Neal has more. Such beauty has a unique value. Sometimes that

means development can be a thorny issue. Our three national parks in

Brecon, Pembrokeshire and Snowdonia say what can and can't be built

within their boundaries. Farmers want them to lose this power. There

is an inconsistency in the way they operate. It is undemocratic and it

tends to be more concerned with tourism and incomers than it is with

the need of the population and agriculture. The Farmers' Union of

Wales is calling for planning powers to be transferred to local

authorities instead. There is some support from small businesses.

Tyrone Williams has a storage yard within Pembrokeshire National Park.

His planning permission has come with so many conditions. He says

that he finds it unworkable. I can't come here after hours and there is

no light available here. I have put lights up here but they do not

comply. They are threatening to take me to court because I haven't

complied with the conditions. Mr Williams has been helped by an

architect who has taken on a number of disputes against the national

parks. I have been a practitioner right across Wales for 50 years.

There is a negative culture. It is as if we are in a museum. The

national parks told me they were surprised by this attack because

figures show they approve 85% of applications. Within the planning

system and outside planning system, farmers tend to benefit quite a bit

from the work of national park authorities so I am slightly

surprised the Farmers' Union of Wales are taking decisions that

might be detrimental. These complaints from farmers and small

businesses are not new but they are coming at the time of change because

the last government is consulting on a new draft planning bill. -- Welsh

Government. One of the proposals is to reduce the number of planning

authorities in Wales. A new online map is highlighting the risks of

developing certain diseases, depending on where you live. The

research from Imperial College London found people in Bridgend and

Rhondda Cynon Taf are more at risk of lung cancer and kidney disease.

Skin cancer was more of a risk in parts of Pembrokeshire, and heart

disease in some we have more than 300 million health

records that we have analysed to produce this atlas and it raises

questions that are important for health policy and for researchers to

look at the data and try and understand the patterns, and then

ask questions which will need to then be studied. For more

information about the research and how your neighbourhood fares go to:

The leader of Caerphilly Council is to retire. Harry Andrews has been in

charge of the Labour-led administration for the past two

years. Last year, he survived a vote of no confidence over a pay rise for

Caerphilly's chief executive - an issue which led to a police

investigation. Mr Andrews says he wants to spend more time with his

family, and a new leader will be chosen next month. Rare notebooks

and manuscripts belonging to Dylan Thomas have arrived at the National

Library of Wales in Aberystwyth, from the University of Buffalo in

New York. The loan also includes a series of rarely seen black and

white photographs of the poet. They'll be shown at an exhibition to

mark the centenary of his birth. Now the weather for the weekend. It is

one of those changeable weekends where it is sunny at one point and

then the next moment, we have showers. We have got some rain and

showers, breezy at times, but then there will be some bright spells

we have a weather front approaching from the south-west and gradually

that and the brain will make its way north. Fairly mild, at around nine

Celsius but then, we have a steep area of low pressure controlling the

weather over the weekend, bringing with it some showers and blustery

conditions. Posting tomorrow, that rain band across the Northeast all

clear. Heinberg, it will be breezy. -- behind it it will be breezy. And

those showers swelling around that the area of low pressure. Hi

temperatures of pen-16 Celsius. Then the heavy showers continuing

throughout. The north Coast will probably escape the worst of the

showers. It will be drier and brighter for longer. The showers

continuing into Saturday night. Not as heavy as they are during the

daytime. Temperatures between 7-9 Celsius. On Sunday, more in the way

of sunshine and showers. Not as breezy as Saturday. Fewer showers as

we go into Monday and Tuesday, with more bright weather in the forecast.

There is more news on our website. We will have an update for you at

6:50pm tomorrow. From all of us here, have a great weekend.

Goodnight. Nos da.