Emergency vehicles leave the entrance to Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch Coal Mine Monday, April 5, 2010 in Montcoal, WV
Ken Ward, Jr., Gary A. Harki, and Kathryn Gregory
The Charleston Gazette
4/5/2010
MONTCOAL, W.Va. — Rescuers likely won’t be able to resume their search until at least early this evening for four West Virginia coal miners who remain unaccounted for following a huge explosion Monday afternoon that killed 25 workers, officials said early this morning.
The deaths at Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch Mine in Raleigh County already ranked as the worst U.S. coal-mining disaster in a quarter century, and officials feared the count would go even higher.
Jenny Waycaster waits for news of her son, Ken Lambert, following a mining accident near Montcoal, W.Va. Monday, April 5, 2010. (AP Photo/Bob Bird)
“We are still in that rescue operation mode,” said Gov. Joe Manchin, who raced to the mine site this morning from a vacation trip in Florida. “With that being said, three holes have to be drilled. The best I can tell you is that it’s going to be a very long day.”
Rescuers were pulled out of the mine early today morning because of dangerously high levels of methane, and crews were beginning the process of drilling boreholes to vent the explosive gases and make it safe for rescuers to return underground.
The holes will be drilled into three places where the four missing miners are most likely going to be — near the mining wall and inside the rescue chamber, said Jimmy Gianato, state director of the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. The holes have to be vented as they are drilled down and pipes have to be inserted to seal off the layers of mined-out area between solid rock, Manchin said…
…Though names have not been released, three members of one family all died in the disaster, Manchin said. Another member of the family was also in the mine, but survived, he said. That man lost his son, nephew and older brother, said Manchin, who lost an uncle in the Farmington Mine disaster in 1968…
The article continues at the Gazette.
All photos from Coal Tattoo
Community members gather at The New Life Assembly Church in Whitesville, W.Va., near Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch Coal Mine Monday, April 5, 2010 in Montcoal, W.Va. An explosion rocked a remote coal mine with a history of safety problems Monday, killing 12 workers and trapping 10 others thousands of feet underground. (AP Photo/Jeff Gentner)
H/T Michelle Malkin who writes, “Red Cross is on the scene providing food, aid and comfort.
“Keep the families and remaining missing four miners in your prayers.”
Please help if you can. And may these men rest in peace.
