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25 killed in West Virginia mine blast

Ward

Ward

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25 killed in West Virginia mine blast - CNN.com

Sad to hear this. Hit's home since the majority of the people I know work in the coal mines including my dad. It's kind of Ironic that this tragedy happened today because I was called for an interview for CONSOL energy early Monday morning for a job in the gassiest (methane) coal mines in the nation (Buck 1 but I doubt any of you have heard of it).

Now according to my dad this more than likely happened due to avoiding safety procedures such as not rock dusting properly to keep the coal dust down, not testing for methane, or not drilling test holes ahead of the face to make sure you not about to cut into old works (abandoned coal mines.)

I suppose the best anyone can do now is pray for the families of the miners.
 
Terrible Terrible stuff. Much love to the families of the deceased.
 
Trapped in a coalmine is one horrible place to spend your last breaths. I hate coalmines!
 
25 dead in W.Va. mine blast, worst since 1984

MONTCOAL, W.Va. – Rescue teams planned to search again for four workers missing in a coal mine where a massive explosion killed 25 in the worst U.S. mining disaster in more than two decades, though officials said Tuesday that the chances were slim that the miners survived.


The suspended rescue mission would resume after bore holes could be drilled to allow for toxic gases to be ventilated from Massey Energy Co.'s sprawling Upper Big Branch mine about 30 miles south of Charleston, state and federal safety officials said.


"All we have left is hope, and we're going to continue to do what we can," Kevin Stricklin, an administrator for the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration, said at a news conference. "But I'm just trying to be honest with everybody and say that the situation does look dire."


Though the cause of the blast was not known, the operation run by Massey subsidiary Performance Coal Co. has a history of violations for not properly ventilating highly combustible methane gas, safety officials said.
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Pray for the families of the victims, but at the same time, if this accident is the result of more safety violations, then indict those responsible for manslaughter.

Article is here.
 
Re: 25 dead in W.Va. mine blast, worst since 1984

Obviously it was caused by the mine being angry about the Mountaineers losing to the freaking Blue Devils.

In all seriousness, my thoughts go out to the families. Its always sad when tragic events like these occur.
 
RIP to those who have lost their lives. What a terrible tragedy.
 
Re: 25 dead in W.Va. mine blast, worst since 1984

Zyphlin said:
Obviously it was caused by the mine being angry about the Mountaineers losing to the freaking Blue Devils.

In all seriousness, my thoughts go out to the families. Its always sad when tragic events like these occur.
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Really, a joke?
 
Re: 25 dead in W.Va. mine blast, worst since 1984

Erod said:
Really, a joke?
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Why not? It's a way of dealing with tragedy. Just look at how many space shuttle jokes made the rounds after the Challenger disaster.

q. What were the last words heard from the miners?

a. Damn it, I said a Bud Light.

:mrgreen:
 
Re: 25 dead in W.Va. mine blast, worst since 1984

danarhea said:
Why not? It's a way of dealing with tragedy. Just look at how many space shuttle jokes made the rounds after the Challenger disaster.

q. What were the last words heard from the miners?

a. Damn it, I said a Bud Light.

:mrgreen:
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Am I going to hell because I giggled? I couldnt help it! Please forgive me :(
 
It's a shame they have to die, but at least fewer people die for domestic coal than for foreign oil. Of course, we weren't "liberating the gophers" (or whatever the hell lives that far down).
 
This was a victory for those who want big government out of their hair. Massey Coal patriotically ignored the whining of Federal agencies who insisted they improve safety conditions inside the mine. They stood fast and ignored the fines and numerous violations, refusing to let the nanny state tell them how to do their business. Let this be a lesson to all those who bitch about intrusive "big government" and who believe industry should not be regulated.
 
From today's edition of The New York Times:

In the past two months, miners had been evacuated three times from the Upper Big Branch because of dangerously high methane levels, according to two miners who asked for anonymity for fear of losing their jobs. Representative Nick J. Rahall II, a Democrat whose district includes the mine, said he had received similar reports from miners about recent evacuations at the mine, which as recently as last month was fined at least three times for ventilation problems, according to federal records.

The Massey Energy Company, the biggest coal mining business in central Appalachia and the owner of the Upper Big Branch mine, has drawn sharp scrutiny and fines from regulators over its safety and environmental record.
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If, in fact, the company's chronic failure to address safety issues led to a preventable disaster, the federal government should take decisive action against the firm including:

1. Prosecuting all senior executives who have decision-making capacity on safety issues, as the matter would substantively amount to negligent homicide.

2. Give the company a 30-day deadline to resolve all of its outstanding safety issues to "best practices" levels followed by a rigorous examination afterward. Failure to comply should lead to a suspension the company's non-compliant mines until all of their outstanding safety issues have been resolved to "best practices" levels and such resolution has been verified by rigorous examination. The company should finance the full costs of the examinations.

3. Require the company to compensate the families of all the miners who were killed in the disaster.

That various news accounts report that the company was a fairly large spender on political causes suggests that the company had finances that would have been better utilized in investing in improving mine safety.
 
It shouldn't but this bit of news is getting to me. The company I work in makes equipment for that mine and I have had a hand in the creation of that object. It connects me to it in an odd way.
 
An unfortunate but all too common part of WV's history. Miners get paid well, but it's also a dangerous job. Always has been, always will be. Hopefully they can get the remaining guys out
 
I heard the head of the mining company on TV glibly state that safety violations were 'unfortunately' a part of running a mining operation. He seemed awfully nonchalant about the whole thing.
 
MyOwnDrum said:
I heard the head of the mining company on TV glibly state that safety violations were 'unfortunately' a part of running a mining operation. He seemed awfully nonchalant about the whole thing.
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Yeah I saw that also. Massey likes to think they are above the law along with being assholes since it seemed like an act of congress just to get them to keep the roads clean of dirt after they put a strip mines in my hollow. My uncle is a state inspector and I've heard him mention many times that they are the worst company to try to deal with.
Now the news keeps reporting on the "HUGE" number of violations but inspectors like to nitpick at the littlest things; example: some coal rolling off the belts which is gonna happen no matter what and since the economy is down and a lot of the "truck mines" (small mines that use 18-wheelers to transport their coal instead of trains) are shut down right now the inspectors have fewer places to go which means they will find more to write. Now I'm not saying its a bad thing that inspectors are doing their job either. I personally think it is a shame that Massey has to have an inspector write a violation on ventilation before they will fix it since when a mines has Methane keeping enough fresh air coming in is probably the most important thing when it comes to safety.
 
Re: 25 dead in W.Va. mine blast, worst since 1984

Zyphlin said:
Obviously it was caused by the mine being angry about the Mountaineers losing to the freaking Blue Devils.

In all seriousness, my thoughts go out to the families. Its always sad when tragic events like these occur.
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....they haven't even dead for a week....
 
Re: 25 dead in W.Va. mine blast, worst since 1984

Hatuey said:
....they haven't even dead for a week....
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Should we wait for them to start smelling before we crack jokes?
 
Re: 25 dead in W.Va. mine blast, worst since 1984

danarhea said:
Should we wait for them to start smelling before we crack jokes?
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Some people deserve a little more respect in death than others who are still live.
 
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