Five dead in US coal mine blast

An explosion in an eastern Kentucky coal mine killed five miners while one other miner was able to get out alive, state Governor Ernie Fletcher said today.

The blast at Darby Mine No. 1 in Harlan County occurred during the early hours of the morning while a maintenance shift was on duty, according to a spokeswoman for the US mine safety administration.

“We don’t know the details of the cause,” Mr Fletcher said.

The five dead miners were found by rescue workers, the governor added. The rescue teams initially found three dead workers and later found two more, he said.

US mines safety spokeswoman Amy Louviere said the survivor -whose condition was unknown – was able to walk out of the mine. Ms Louviere did not know how many workers were on duty when the blast occurred, but no production was going on at the time.

Names of the victims had not been released. The underground mine, operated by Kentucky Darby LLC, is located about 250 miles southeast of Louisville in a mountainous area near the Virginia state border.

Relatives of the miners gathered before dawn at the Cloverfork missionary baptist church near the mine to await word about their loved ones. State and federal mine officials informed the family members of the deaths, said Mike Blair, the church’s pastor.

“There’s just a lot of heartbroken people,” he said.

Mine safety issues have been a key concern of lawmakers ever since two accidents in January killed 14 West Virginia coal miners.

Earlier this week, a key Senate committee endorsed a bill to make coal mining safer. The legislation would require miners to have at least two hours of oxygen available instead of one as under the current policy. It also would require mine operators to store extra oxygen packs along escape routes.

The bill also would require mines to have two-way wireless communications and tracking systems in place within three years. It now goes to the full Senate.

The US mine safety and health administration recently issued a temporary rule requiring coal operators to give miners extra oxygen, but miners have been pressing Congress for a permanent fix.

In the January 2 Sago mine explosion in West Virginia, one man was killed in the blast and 11 others died from carbon monoxide poisoning. Randal McCloy Jr, the only miner who survived, has said at least four of the miners’ air packs did not work, forcing the men to share.