A daily newspaper in Wales has donated thousands of pounds to an appeal set up following the death of four miners last week at Gleision Colliery.

The South Wales Evening Post produced a special late edition last Friday evening after it emerged that all four miners trapped in the pit following an explosion the previous day had perished.

Now the Swansea-based title has donated £5,000 to the Swansea Valley Miners Appeal Fund which has seen £80,000 raised in just three days.

The Northcliffe-owned daily also earned plaudits from local MP Peter Hain over the way it covered the disaster as well as its support for the fund.

The front page of the paper on Friday

The disaster resulted in the deaths of miners Phillip Hill, Garry Jenkins, David Powell and Charles Breslin who had become trapped following a blast on Thursday morning.

Managing director of publisher South West Wales Media Blanche Sainsbury said: “Evening Post employees live and work in this community and we have all shared in the anguish and grief of the last week’s tragic events.

“We hope this donation to the fund will play a part in helping to secure the financial wellbeing of the families in the immediate future and hope that other large employers in the region will follow our example.”

“The Evening Post is more than the local newspaper that reports on the community it serves. It is proud to play its role at the heart of the community.”

The fund was set up by Neath MP Mr Hain along with the South Wales Branch of the National Union of Mineworkers, set up the fund in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy.

Said Mr Hain: “I would like to congratulate the Post on the way it covered the disaster and to thank them for supporting the fund.

“It just goes to show that they really are at the heart of all things local.  It’s been really appreciated in the community and by the families who are the victims of this disaster.”

• Donations to the Swansea Valley Miners’ Appeal Fund can be made either online at www.minersappealfund.org or sent by post to the office of Neath MP Peter Hain at 39 Windsor Road, Neath, SA11 1NB or via email at:  donate@miners appealfund.org.  Cheques should be made payable to Swansea Valley Miners’ Appeal Fund.