Thieves Exploit Mine Safety Push

In the wake of the Sago mine disaster and Aracoma mining deaths in early 2006, West Virginia adopted the stockpiling of emergency air packs in its quest to improve mine accident survival and rescue efforts.

The resulting caches, stored well within a mine, have become magnets for thieves, The Associated Press' Tim Huber reports. Massey Energy Co. alone estimates that 100 to 200 of the air packs have been stolen from its mine in recent months.

Rather than a new law, officials tell Huber they want prosecutors to pursue regular theft charges but to make such cases a priority.

"The approach comes on the (heels) of a harrowing attempt to steal eight emergency air packs from Massey Energy Co.'s Aracoma Alma No. 1 Mine earlier this month," Huber writes. "Authorities are searching for a suspect who allegedly started a multi-ton vehicle, taped the controls and sent it some 3,000 feet down the mine's tracks, where it collided with a second vehicle."