Mine Disaster Gets Mining Company 369 Citations!
A Brief History
On April 5, 2010, the Upper Big Branch coal mine in West Virginia suffered a collapse, killing 29 of the 31 men working at the site. The tragedy was the worst US mine disaster since 1970, and resulted in the Massey Energy Company being issued 369 citations for failing to follow proper mine safety laws.
Digging Deeper
Coal mining is hard, dirty work, and the miners are always at risk for catastrophic accidents and cave ins, especially when safety regulations are not followed exactly. Even without spectacular accidents, the long term effects of coal dust in the lungs has killed many thousands of miners. In this particular case, it was Alpha Natural Resources that paid the $10.8 million fine and settled the lawsuits from the families of victims for $209 million since Alpha had bought out Massey a year after the tragedy. Massey had been a large coal mining company, controlling about a third of all the coal resou
five trained rescue teams from its company and a second company are now on the scene trying to get to these trapped miners, believed to be trapped miners. the upper big branch, just 100 miles from the scene of the 2006 disaster of the sago mine offer some hope of recovery if there has been survival after the explosion. it has cache s of extra oxygen and air-tight so-called refuge chambers along emergency escape routes that could keep trapped miners if there are trapped miners alive to keep them alive for as long as four days. details are limited at this hour as are illustrations. we ll bring them to you as become available throughout the become available throughout the night here on msnbc. he s actually right behind. what up, mike? hey, dude! [ laughs ] yeah, this is how he dances. uhhh! [ laughs ] it s, uh, haunting. anyway, while i was away, the e-trade machine. thanks, martha. .worked its technomagic, triggered my stop loss orders, saved me a pantload! [ pilot ] please fasten your s
about 30 miles south of the capitol of charleston. the state mine director says it happened at 3:00 this afternoon. emergency rescue crews that are trained in mine rescues are rush together scene. this is an underground coal mine operated by performance coal company. operations started at upper big branch in 19946789 and last year, producinging 1.2 million tons of coal. the west virginia gazette newspaper says about 200 people work that mine. as far as accident history at upper big branch a miner killed in july, 2003 in an electrical accident and another in 2001 after falling from a roof top. but over all, massy energy which operates mines in west virginia, virginia and kentucky said it had its best year ever last year as far as coming to safety. and again, jim just headline now there are six dead, 21 unaccounted for at the upper
unaccounted for ranging from 19 the highest than that, the latest number we have is 19. ladies and gentlemen, here is rachel maddow. good evening, rachel. good evening, keith. thank you for that. and thanks to you at home for staying with us at the next hour. breaking news tonight out of west virginia, about 30 miles south of charleston, which is the capital city of west virginia, there has been an explosion. it was this afternoon at the upper big branch south mine. it has left seven miners dead, 19 miners unaccounted for. one injured miner is reportedly in intensive care tonight, and the charleston area medical center says it is preparing for more patients. rescue efforts reportedly in full effect this hours a family members gather for news at the nearby whitesville elementary school. this mine is operated by performance coal company. performance coal company is a subsidiary of a larger company called massey energy. massey is actually the largest coal producer in central ap lash sha
gentlemen, here is rachel maddow. good evening, rachel. good evening, keith. thank you for that. and thanks to you at home for staying with us at the next hour. breaking news tonight out of west virginia, about 30 miles south of charleston which is the capital city of west virginia, there has been an explosion. it was this afternoon at the upper big branch south mine. it has left seven miners dead, one injured miner is reportedly in intensive care tonight, and the charleston area medical center says it is preparing for more patients. rescue efforts reportedly in full effect as family members gather at the nearby whitesville elementary school. this mine is operated by performance coal company. performance coal company is a subsidiary of a larger company called massey energy. massey is actually the largest coal producer in central ap lash sha. five rescue teams from massey and conso are on the scene, as