Crews drill into mine where 25 died

April 7, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

MONTCOAL, W.Va.

Rescuers held out slim hope Tuesday that four missing coal miners might have survived when a mine repeatedly cited for improperly venting methane gas exploded, killing 25 people in the country’s deadliest underground disaster in a quarter-century.

A day after the blast in southern West Virginia, desperate rescuers began boring into the mine in hopes of releasing poisonous gases so crews could go in search of the men. But Gov. Joe Manchin said it could be today before much progress is made.

“I don’t want to give anybody any false hope, but by golly, if I’m on that side of the table, and that’s my father or my brother or my uncle or my cousins, I’m going to have hope,” he said.

The missing miners might have been able to reach airtight chambers stocked with food, water and enough oxygen for four days. But rescue teams checked one of two chambers nearby, and it was empty. The buildup of gases prevented them from reaching the second chamber. Officials said they were 90 percent sure of the miners’ location.

On Tuesday, bulldozers carved an access road to make way for drilling crews, who planned to dig four shafts to vent methane, a highly combustible gas that accumulates naturally in coal mines, and carbon monoxide from the blast site about 1,000 feet beneath the surface.

Crews began drilling two side-by-side holes that start at 12 inches in diameter and narrow to 6 inches. They hoped to open more holes later Tuesday evening. The digging could be done by midday today.

The disaster at the Upper Big Branch mine has focused attention on the business and safety practices of Massey Energy Co., a powerful and politically connected company in Appalachia known for producing big profits, as well as big piles of safety and environmental violations and big damage awards for grieving widows.

Massey was fined more than $382,000 in the past year for repeated serious violations involving its ventilation plan and equipment. The mine had been cited for 600 violations in less than a year and a half.

Last year alone, the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration cited Upper Big Branch for 495 violations and proposed $911,802 in fines. Production more than tripled during that period, according to federal records. So far this year, the agency has found 105 violations at the mine.

The company’s chief executive, Don Blankenship, said the mine was not unsafe, but federal regulators planned to review its many violations.

At the time of the explosion, 61 miners were in the mine, about 30 miles south of Charleston.

Nine miners were leaving on a vehicle that takes them in and out of the mine’s long shaft when a crew ahead of them felt a blast of air and went back to investigate, said Kevin Stricklin, an administrator for MSHA.

Blankenship told The Associated Press on Tuesday that a carbon-monoxide warning was the first sign of trouble. Mine crews were checking on the alarm when they discovered an explosion had occurred.

The death toll was the highest in a U.S. mine since 1984, when 27 people 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. coal mine since a 1970 explosion killed 38 at Finley Coal Co. in Hyden, Ky.