Fire erupts in West Virginia mine, two workers missing

A fire broke out in an underground coal mine in southern West Virginia late yesterday and two workers were unaccounted for, authorities said.

The fire was reported at the Aracoma Coal Company in Mellville, about 60 miles south-west of Charleston.

Jeff Gillenwater, a spokesman for the mine’s owner said the blaze began on a conveyer belt inside the mine and the mine itself was not on fire.

“There are two individuals we are currently trying to find in the coal mine.”

Gillenwater said there was clean air in several sections of the mine.

“These two guys know this coal mine well, and we’re just hopeful mine rescue finds them quickly,” he said.

A spokeswoman for Governor Joe Manchin said she was told by officials from the state Office of Miners’ Health Safety and Training that 12 miners had initially gone into the mine to start their shift and ran into some type of smoke or fire.

The blaze occurred less than three weeks after an explosion at the International Coal Group’s Sago Mine in Upshur County killed 12 miners.