Thaindian News

MONTCOAL, WEST VIRGINIA (BNO NEWS) – Twenty-five coal miners died and 4 are unaccounted for after an explosion on Monday at a coal mine in West Virginia, officials said Tuesday.

The explosion happened around 3 p.m. ET at Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch mine in Montcoal, West Virginia.

Massey Energy confirmed twenty-five dead and 4 miners unaccounted for after the explosion. “We are working diligently on rescue efforts and continue to partner with all of the appropriate agencies.”

The West Virginia Office of Miners’ Health Safety &Training has dispatched trained mine rescue teams to the site in order to aid in the efforts taking place at the Upper Big Branch mine. The rescuers dealt a setback when poison gases were released from inside the mine.

President Obama spoke with West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin to express his condolences for those killed in the mine explosion and to offer any assistance, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said.

“I want to send my deepest condolences, our thoughts and prayers to the families and the friends of the workers who lost their lives after an explosion took place in a West Virginia mine yesterday. At this moment, there are still people missing. There are rescue teams that are searching tirelessly and courageously to find them,” President Obama said.

The mine is operated by a Massey subsidiary Performance Coal Co. In 2009, Massey reported a decrease in its NFDL incident rate from 1.93 to 1.67. This is a measure of lost-time accidents. Massey is the largest coal producer in the Central Appalachian region; it has sixteen complexes in West Virginia for blending, processing and shipping coal that is produced from one or more mines.

On January 2, 2006, an explosion took the lives of twelve miners in the Sago mine in West Virginia. The incident was caused by a methane explosion, 14 men walked to safety and another worker was rescued from the mine.