06 April 2010

Tragedy at Montcoal (Updated)

Federal mine safety officials say that 12 miners were killed, two were injured and 10 remain missing following a 3 p.m. explosion at a Massey Energy subsidiary mine in Raleigh County, The Associated Press and others report.

(Headline corrected)

Update: The death toll has risen to 25. With two still listed as injured, four miners remain missing. Toxic gas and the threat of another explosion has forced the rescue teams to evacuate the mine for now. Rescuers will attempt to ventilate that section with bore holes so they can resume their efforts. AP has details.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Your AP article '25 dead in W.Va. mine blast, worst since 1984' published 4/5/10 commented "The death toll is the highest in a U.S. mine since 1984, when 27 died in a fire at Emery Mining Corp.'s mine in Orangeville, Utah. If the four missing bring the total to 29, it would be the most killed in a U.S. mine since a 1970 explosion killed 38 at Finley Coal Co., in Hyden, Ky."

On May 2, 1971, 91 died in a fire at the Sunshine Mine in Kellogg, ID. Is there a reason this disaster was excluded from your comparative statistics?