It’s the kind of headline that rattles us, because we don’t think of such things still happening in America today.  But 25 coal miners are dead and 4 missing this week after their workplace exploded, Monday, in West Virginia.

The Upper Big Branch South Mine in Raleigh County sustained a large explosion, April 5, on a personnel conveyance machine called a mantrip.  The explosion is so far attributed to a methane gas buildup in the mine, which is operated by Performance Coal Company (subsidiary of Massey Energy).

Five rescue teams were dispatched by Massey, Consol Energy, and the WV Office of Miners Health Safety and Training.  Workers intend to drill four bore holes to ventilate the mine shafts.  In order to do so, they must bulldoze a route off the main roads to get the drilling equipment in.

It may be Wednesday before drilling can commence, said West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin.

(Google Earth view of the Upper Big Branch surface mine, over underground complex.)

There are survival chambers in the underground mine, stocked with a 4 day supply of food, water, and oxygen.  It is questionable, however, whether the miners were able to reach the safe chambers in time.

This tragic event has drawn to the scene members of the local community and greater West Virginia, including anxious and bereaved family members, Senator Jay Rockefeller, and Massey CEO Don Blankenship. 

It has also drawn the attention of major news outlets across the country, as this is the worst disaster to befall miners since the 1984 fire at the Emery Mining Corp. mine in Orangeville, Utah killed 27.

(Photo:  Charleston Gazette.)

President Obama sent his condolences to the victims and families of Upper Big Branch, saying,

the federal government stands ready to offer whatever assistance is requested.

Senator Robert Byrd stated,

Clearly we must get to the bottom of what happened, how and who was responsible.

West Virginians are quite familiar with Massey’s legacy of negligence in its mines. 

Two men died from a disaster four years ago at Aracoma Alma Mine No. 1, in Logan County.

On January 19, 2006, Ellery Hatfield and Don Bragg died of carbon monoxide poisoning when a conveyor belt fire trapped them.

Their crew was ordered to abandon the area.  Bragg and Hatfield ran to their primary escape tunnel, which (per federal law) should have been air-sealed from the working area, but they found it filled with smoke.  The two men got separated from ten other crew members, who were able to escape. 

Without water to fight the fire or accurate maps for rescue workers, it was a dire situation.  It was later discovered, also, that carbon monoxide monitors hadn’t been adequately installed. 

What’s more, the subsequent investigations by MSHA discovered that Massey had purposefully removed the requisite air-tight walls, or stoppings, that should have sealed off the escape tunnel.  MSHA stated in its report,

MSHA issued 25 citations and orders for violations which contributed to the cause or severity of the accident.  Of these, 21 were the result of reckless disregard on the part of the mine operator.

The widows of the two deceased miners want criminal charges to be brought against Massey. 

Today, Massey CEO Don Blankenship had the audacity to say the following to WV Metro News, regarding the Upper Big Branch tragedy,

Any suspicion that the mine was improperly operated or illegally operated or anything like that would be unfounded. None of these groups would have allowed this mine to operate had it been unsafe.

Apparently the mine’s 3007 safety violations in the last 15 years are no foundation. 

Massey’s public image is certainly suffering from this fiasco, and so is its stock, which fell 10% since yesterday.

Authorities intend to conduct thorough investigations into what caused the accident. 

In a press release today, Congressman Nick Rahall (D-WV-3) said,

We will seek answers about the cause of this disaster.  We will look for inadequacies in the law and enforcement practices, and I will work to fix any we find.  We will scrutinize the health and safety violations at this mine to see whether the law was circumvented and miners precious lives were willfully put at risk, and there will be accountability.

Kevin Stricklin, chief of coal mine safety for the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration, said to CNN,

(Kevin Stricklin, MSHA.)

In addition to the methane, we’ll look at other things that may have been involved, such as coal dust (coal dust propagates explosions further)...We’ll leave no stone unturned…to determine exactly what happened and the extent of it.

Local news stations are providing regular updates as the situation develops: 

Coal Tattoo, Charleston Gazette
WOWK 13